Despite a gradual recovery in the tourist sector after the COVID-19 pandemic, Ho Chi Minh City is grappling with a serious shortage of personnel in various sectors, particularly in hotels and restaurants.
The Thai cabinet has approved in principle increasing the number of foreign workers at businesses to deal with labour shortage, according to Thai government spokesman Jirayu Huangsab.
The Vietnamese Embassy in Germany held a seminar on August 21 to explore measures driving cooperation in workforce recruitment and vocational training amid labour shortages there, with a particular focus on Mecklenburg-West Pomerania state.
The Japanese Embassy in Vietnam in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held a workshop in Hanoi on March 19, highlighting Vietnam's and Japan’s efforts to promote labour mobility between the two nations.
Thai authorities have relaxed procedures to create favourable conditions for migrant workers and address labour shortages in the post-COVID-19 recovery process.
Malaysia will remove its existing preconditions on employing foreign workers and allow demand-based employment in bid to boost its economy, said Minister of Home Affairs Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
A labour shortage is being reported in major cities across the country, putting more pressure on businesses to respond to the increasing volume of contracts as the year-end period approaches.
Although the Government of Malaysia has opened the border since April 1 and encouraged the recruitment of foreign workers, the continued labour shortage is seriously affecting the country’s palm oil industry.
The south-central province of Binh Thuan, one of the popular tourist destinations in Vietnam, has issued a plan for the training and development of the tourism workforce from 2022 – 2025, with a vision towards 2030, in an effort to revive the pandemic-stricken industry.
The resort island of Phu Quoc in Kien Giang province has seen a surge in tourist arrivals after Vietnam fully reopened on March 15. However, there is still much to do to revive the tourism industry to the pre-pandemic level.
Many provinces and cities as well as the central region of Vietnam have recently emerged as an attractive destination for foreign investors, according to experts.
The Government's flexible response to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine strategy has created a strong impetus for domestic enterprises to accelerate production recovery, boosting recruitment for enterprises after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday and averting the risk of labour shortages.
Thailand on November 10 announced that it will set aside up to 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines for foreign workers as it prepares to welcome them back to the country to help ease a labour shortage.
Kien Giang enjoyed year-on-year rise of 8.6 percent in export revenue in the first eight months of 2021 to nearly 510 million USD despite a drop of 13.15 percent in August to about 64 million USD, according to the Mekong Delta province’s Department of Industry and Trade.
A labour shortage, particularly in manpower-intensive industries such as agribusiness and food processing, is likely to intensify over the long term in Thailand as the COVID-19 pandemic makes it difficult for foreign labourers to move across borders.
More than 800 businesses and 8,700 employees have been affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
