HCM City (VNA) - Thenumber of foreign companies and corporations choosing Vietnam for investmentand production has increased strongly in recent years but their recruitmentof staff has faced problems.

The Department of Labour,Invalids and Social Affairs in the southern province of Dong Nai, for example,said that nearly 3,300 companies in the province need more than 75,000 newworkers this year as they expand production and open newfactories. 

Of the 75,000, more than 56,000manual workers are needed for the companies, which operate in the garment,footwear, electronics and woodwork industries.

Pham Van Cong, Deputy Directorof the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said thatcompanies need professionally trained employees, but vocationaltraining schools have failed to meet the demand. Many peoplegraduating from these schools do not even know how to operate a machine.

As a result, many companiesemploy high school graduates and train them professionally at theworkplace.

Cong said that Dong Nai province each year has employed dozens of thousands of manual workersfrom northern and central provinces, but the number of workers fromthese areas has fallen in recent years.

The department forecasts ashortage of manual workers to continue this year.

Cong said that the provincialEmployment Service Centre is conducting a survey on workers who needjobs and will then introduce them to companies.

Many companies in Ho Chi Minh City arealso facing difficulties in recruiting new workers. Several companiessought workers before Lunar Tet,but have not recruited any staff yet.

According to companies, workersoften choose to work abroad as guest workers because of the higher salaries andreduced costs.

Unlike Dong Nai province,Ho Chi Minh City companies still need a large number of skilled workers.

According to the HCM CityCentre for Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labour Market Information, the cityneeds nearly 30,000 new workers, of which only 16.82 per cent wouldbe manual workers.

Theremaining are skilled workers, but many of them are required to havevocational training degrees. The rate of university graduates accounts for19.8 per cent

Nguyen Van Lam, Deputy Directorof the city's Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said thathighly skilled workers are needed for the enterprises involved in information technology-electronics, automation, food technology, e-commerce,finance-banking-insurance, tourism-hospitality, garments-textiles, andlogistics.

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam and the economic hub of the southern region. Accounting for 0.6 percent of Vietnam’s total land area and about 9 percent of the country’s population, it is part of the southern key economic zone, which also comprises Dong Nai, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Long An, Tay Ninh and Binh Phuoc provinces. In the southern economic hub, over 3,000 projects across all sectors are supported by foreign capital, while the number of registered enterprises has exceeded 100,000.

In 2019, the city attracted 8.3 billion USD worth of foreign investment, with its labour productivity being nearly three times that of the whole country (299.8 million VND per person, an increase of 6.8 percent over 2018).

The local gross regional domestic product (GRDP) reached more than 1.34 quadrillion VND, an 8.32 percent increase year-on-year.

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, Ho Chi Minh City set a target of achieving a growth rate of 8.5 percent for GRDP in 2020, with total private investment accounting for 35 percent of GRDP.

This year, Ho Chi Minh City also aims to have 44,000 new businesses, creating 135,000 new jobs./.