About 500 enterprises in the southern province of Dong Nai need to recruit over 44,000 workers in 2015 due to operation expansion, according to the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The Department revealed that actual demand for laborers is higher than reported, estimating at over 60,000, and apparel, footwear, and mechanics industries require the highest employment.

The Dong Nai Garment Corporation (Donagamex) and the Hwaseung Company, for example, need to hire 2,000 and 1,000 workers, respectively.

Deputy Director of the Department Lam Duy Tin advised enterprises to offer preferential policies on wage and other welfare with a view of avoiding shortage of workers after the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival which falls in mid-February.

To date, Dong Nai has 1,131 valid foreign projects with a total investment of nearly 21.49 billion USD.

It is home to 31 industrial zones covering nearly 9,560ha, with the land occupancy rate of 66.77 percent, according to the Managing Board of the Dong Nai industrial zones

Dong Nai, together with Binh Duong, Tay Ninh, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Phuoc, Long An and Tien Giang provinces and Ho Chi Minh City, form Vietnam’s southern key economic region.-VNA