The Employment and Social Consequences of Vietnam's International Economic Integration

The social consequences of restructuring can largely be understood in terms of the net employment impact and the imapct on government expenditures and revenues. When restructuring entails unemployment, government expenditure can mitigate the financial costs faced by those losing jobs at the opportunity cost of overall welfare (other opportunities for government welfare spending). Restructuring, however, doesn't cause unemployment per se. Restructuring involves chnages to the 'rules of the game" (or new rules) by which economic activity is conducted. In the context of vietnam, "restructuring" is generally understood to mean a reduction in the scope and scale of state sector commercial activity through equitisation and similar reforms. This paper examines labour issues in restructuring Vietnam's state sector, the social protection system and options for state enterprise reform.