Survey: Vietnamese firms expect hiring activities to recover in H1

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Firms in diverse areas nationwide expect that recruitment activities will grow strongly in the first half of 2022 as the economy is gradually recovering, according to the newly-published ManpowerGroup Vietnam Employment Outlook Survey in the first and second quarters of 2022.

Accordingly, up to 93 percent of the surveyed companies said 50 percent or more of their usual activities have recovered, while only 7 percent said that their business operations remain affected or even suspended.

Throughout four pandemic waves, domestic enterprises have learned to adapt and respond more flexibly to both effectively contain disease and develop their business and production. Most recently, the World Bank said in its Economic Update for Vietnam that the country’s economic recovery is likely to accelerate in 2022 with GDP growth expected to pick up to 5.5 percent from 2.6 percent in 2021.

The positive economic outlook gives employers more confidence to recruit in the first half of 2022 as compared to last year.

In total, 95 percent of respondents plan to increase or at least maintain the current headcounts as compared to 80 percent in the second half of last year. Only 5 percent announced their plan to trim hiring activities.

Nguyen Thu Trang, Country Sales Manager at ManpowerGroup Vietnam said demand for senior and full-time positions is high, most notably in trade, information and communications technology (ICT), real estate and manufacturing.

Noticeably, as corporate social and environmental responsibility are becoming increasingly important, the job market is seeing a boost in demand for positions in renewable energy, she said.

In tandem with business growth, employment activities are on the way to recovering to pre-COVID-19 levels. Almost two thirds (59 percent) of employers said their hiring activities have fully recovered, followed by about 32 percent expecting their recruitment plans to increase within the next 3-6 months.

The strongest recruitment intentions were reported in wholesale, retail, ICT, manufacturing, real estate, healthcare and high technology, among others.

In an attempt to keep employees safe while maintaining effective business operations, employers are turning to a hybrid work model as a rising trend in the new normal.

In the next 3-6 months, more than half (51 percent) of respondents plan to apply a hybrid work model for their staff./.