Sipping green tea in his garden of roses, ex-Communist Party of Vietnam official Nguyen Van Cuong said he is “jobless, but happy,” after Vietnam cut 80,000 state roles last week.
Fretting at home after leaving public employment once considered a job-for-life, Nguyen Thi Thu said she feels “empty” over a future that is no longer certain.
Vietnam is in the midst of a dramatic remaking of its state apparatus, with 100,000 positions slated to be scrapped, as Hanoi seeks to streamline bureaucracy and boost the economy.
Photo: AFP
On Monday last week, 80,000 roles were slashed as most of the Southeast Asian nation’s provinces and cities were merged.
Feelings are mixed among newly unemployed apparatchiks — communist party officials whose jobs were once guaranteed.
“It’s really a waste for the state to lose one like myself,” said 56-year-old Cuong, who served in Bac Giang province outside Hanoi. Bac Giang was merged into a neighboring province’s administration.
The government said those caught in the overhaul would either be made redundant or offered early retirement.
Cuong said he could have remained in his post — or even been promoted — but chose to accept a US$75,000 payoff for his remaining six years after a 30-year state career.
The mass reorganization overseen by Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam echoes steps taken by US President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei to take an axe to government spending for “efficiency.”
Former district-level secretary Thu admits she might not have been able to manage the burdens of the job as management prioritized performance.
The 50-year-old felt she had no option but to resign when her office was relocated to the Mekong delta province of An Giang, more than 70km from her home.
“I resigned, not because I wanted to quit my job,” Thu said. “It’s better to resign rather than waiting for a dismissal order.”
Vietnam — a global manufacturing hub — recorded economic growth of 7.1 percent last year and is aiming for eight percent this year as it vies for “middle-income country” status by 2030.
However, the country is facing headwinds from its key trade partner, the US.
Trump threatened a 46 percent tariff before settling on a 20 percent rate in a deal announced on Wednesday last week — a levy five times the rate before he took office the second time.
Vietnam’s deputy finance minister said the new administrative structure would bring “strong scale to connect strong business and economic infrastructure” and create “greater socio-economic development.”
Lam, the Communist Party general secretary, on Monday last week said that “the decision to reshape the nation is a historical landmark with strategic meaning,” aiming “to continue our path towards a socialist country... for people’s happiness.”
For Thu, the way forward is now unclear.
“I don’t know what to do next,” she said.
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