Demand for experienced, professionally skilled candidates has risen in the Ho Chi Minh City job market, while the need for manual labour jobs has declined, the city's Human Resource Forecast and Labour Market Information Centre has reported.

Since early this year, jobs like accountancy, trading, marketing, sales, public relations, human resources, administrative tasks, information technology, transport, logistics and import-export have attracted candidates who wanted to change jobs. Nearly 82 percent of them had experience.

Labour demand has remained stable, with growth of only 0.75 percent in the second quarter, compared with the first quarter, the centre said.

"This means that enterprises have focused on retaining human resources," according to Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Times), which quoted the centre's report.

Recruitment demand has increased for professional and technical skills rather than for manual workers.

Demand for manual labourers accounted for 35 percent of the total, a drop of 22 percent compared with the same period last year.

The reports also revealed that processing and production enterprises, which have the biggest number of manual workers, have retained their existing workforce.

Demand for manual labourers in the first six months of this year dropped 13.5 percent year-on-year.

In addition, demand for workers who have primary vocational training certificates was 8.5 percent of the total demand, a growth of 1.5 times compared with the same period last year.

The demand for university graduates was 15 percent of the total.

Job growth in the finance and banking sector fell by nearly one-fifth, and only 40 percent of the jobs were for official (managerial) positions.

The need for technical workers in the electronics and electricity sectors remained high, while demand for human resources staff was 30 percent of the total.

Demand for professional and technical skilled workers is expected to increase in the last six months of this year and in 2015 when the country officially integrates with the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) labour market, in which workers from member countries will be allowed to take jobs in other ASEAN member markets.

The centre predicts that, to the end of this year, the city will need 150,000 employees, of which 40,000 will be seasonal.

Recruitment demand will focus on trading, services, garments and textiles, shoe making, tourism, consultancy – insurance, real estate and mechanics.

Of the total demand, manual workers will comprise 36.5 percent; labourers with vocational certificates, 22.5 percent; and university graduates, 12.5 percent.

For the rest of the year, more graduates, students and workers who have lost their jobs will be looking for jobs, an increase of 10 percent over the first six months of the year.

However, employees will not be jumping from job to job as much as they have in the past, as they prefer to have a stable job.-VNA