In March HCM City is forecast to require 35,000 additional workers for the textile, leather and footwear, construction, power supply, electronics and telecom, marketing, and services sectors.

According to the HCM City Centre for Human Resources Forecast and Labour Market Information, half of the demand is for unskilled workers and 15 percent for semi-skilled workers.

Tran Anh Tuan, deputy director of the centre, said in February the demand rose by 45 percent.

The city's labour market is more stable now than in the same period last year, he said.

Though thousands of unskilled workers were hired in the first two months of the year, the turnover rate was not very high and labour shortages faced by labour-intensive firms were not as bad as last year.

Many enterprises, chastened by their past experiences, have begun to pay greater attention to the wages and social welfare of their employees, ensuring many return to work after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays, unlike in previous years.

Around 90 percent of workers in labour-intensive industries returned to work, not including those that joined other companies in the city after returning, Tuan said.

Thus, the textile and leather and footwear industries have not faced the acute worker shortage of last year.

But the centre forecasts a higher turnover rate in the next three months and an increase in registration for unemployment insurance when many workers will be between jobs./.