Businesses and small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in Ho Chi Minh City are trying to solve a labour shortage, because workers have quit in hope of better pay after Lunar New Year holidays, according to the Centre for Labour Market Information and Human Resource Forecast.

Tran Anh Tuan, the centre's standing deputy head, said city-based firms in fields of textile, garment, service, mechanics, electricity and IT needed to recruit 35,000 labourers this month, 60 percent of them unskilled, Tuan said.

In February, vacancies at city-based firms were 25.58 percent higher than January, a report by the center said.

The number of workers changing jobs in February was 30 percent more than January.

With the current shortage of labour, enterprises and companies have drawn up strategies to recruit, including offering salary and allowance incentives, he said.

Strategies also included working closely with universities and vocational schools, Tuan said.

The supply of skilled labour in February was high, with few opportunities in accountancy and administration management, he said./.