Firms grapple with year-end labour crunch

HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Several enterprises in the south, mostly in Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong, are accelerating worker recruitment, preparing to up production after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday that falls in mid-February 2018.

They are announcing their hirings in many ways, posting recruitment information on banners and social networks, the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reports.

The Lien Phuong Textile Company in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City, is offering jobs with salaries of 5.5-12 million VND (242 – 528 USD) a month, welfare policies and healthcare insurance.

At the Linh Trung Export Processing Zone and Tan Binh Industrial Zone in HCM City, a lot of companies are calling for people to apply for different jobs.

Bui Thanh Ngoc, deputy director of Job and Employment Services Centre under HCM City Export Processing Zones Authority, said that the centre is currently looking to hire 1,000 women for electronics assembling, 700 workers in mechanical components manufacturing and 1,500 garment workers.

Difficult task

The Pousung Vina Company in the Bau Xeo Industrial Zone, Trang Bom district, Dong Nai province is among the companies keenly looking to get new employees at the end of the year.

Le Nhat Truong, head of the company’s labour union, said that it was seeking 1,000 workers to complete orders and prepare for new assembly lines.

“We are offering thousands of jobs, but are only able to hire four to five workers each day. In February or March, we could select a hundred a day,” he said.

Enterprises in Binh Duong province are also struggling to find workers.

At the provincial Employment Service Centre, more than 600 companies have advertised nearly 16,000 vacancies, but just 300 candidates have registered for interviews.

According to Foster VN Electronics Ltd Company in VSIP 2 in Thu Dau Mot city, despite offering attractive welfare packages, it has not been able to get the 3,000 workers it is looking for in the year-end recruitment campaign. 

Vu Van Vuong, head of the company’s human resource department, said that this year, they have only been able to recruit some 30 workers a day, compared to around 100 in previous years.

Labour demand in the Mekong Delta provinces and Da Nang City has also risen sharply.

A report by Long An province’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (DoLISA) says local enterprises are facing hurdles in finding workers. They needed more than 75,000 workers in 2017, but only 30,000 have been hired so far.

Huynh Viet Tu, director of the Employment Service Centre under the Da Nang Export Processing Zone Authority, said that the city was dealing with a serious labour shortage, mostly in textile and mechanical sectors.

According to Binh Duong province’s labour department, the problem is caused by migrant workers leaving because they prefer to work at emerging industrial zones in the Mekong Delta and the central region.

Huynh Ngoc Long, director of the Dong Nai province Employment Service Centre, said high labour turnover, bankruptcies and early retirement policies might have exacerbated the problem.

Better packages

Ngoc said enterprises were paying more attention to improve welfare policies for workers.

“Besides the salary and working environment, welfare is a a primary concern for employees. By adopting favourable policies, companies are strengthening their employee retention,” he said.

Ha Thi Dao, human resource manager of a company in the Linh Trung Export Processing Zone, said that labour turnover in textile, leather or footwear industries was high because of wide salary ranges.  

“Enterprises who receive a lot of orders can offer higher salaries. But workers may have unstable income. At the end of the year or after the Tet holiday is the time workers seek for better jobs,” she said.

To address the problem, the Binh Duong labour department has recommended that companies offer better remuneration to all employees. - VNA