Foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises based in the southern province of Dong Nai have generated jobs for nearly 20,000 workers since the beginning of this year, a local official has said.

Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Lam Duy Tin said the province created jobs for some 46,000 people in the first half of the year, including 28,000 working at foreign-invested and domestic businesses.

In 2014, large-scale FDI enterprises in Dong Nai expect to recruit 62,000 additional workers, but only 30 percent of the targeted volume have to date been reached. Thus, the labour demand is predicted to be high in the remaining months of the year as local firms need more workers to fulfill orders by the year’s end.

In easing difficulties for the unemployed, Dong Nai spent more than 135 billion VND (6.37 million USD) supporting 14,500 unemployed labourers and got many of them involved in vocational courses to seek new jobs.

In the second half of the year, the province targets generating jobs for 44,000 additional labourers. Now, more than 1,000 FDI firms are operating in the locality, creating employment for over 450,000 workers.-VNA