HCM City (VNA) - Ho Chi Minh City needs as many as 80,000 new employees for the second quarter as it focuses on improvingeconomic competitiveness and quality of growth.

Since the beginning of the year, 5,593 new enterprises havebeen established, creating more jobs, according to HCM Centre for ForecastingManpower Needs and Labour Market Information.

Recruitment necessary for the first quarter was 72,000, arise of 38 percent compared to the same period last year.

Most of the new jobs in the second quarter are expected to bein sales, services, textile-footwear, and logistics, among others.  

Tran Thi Anh Dao, head of the labour forecasting centre, toldthe Vietnam Economic Times that the city has continued to improve itsbusiness environment and encouraged the formation of more startups.

Dao said that companies were increasingly requiring morehighly skilled and trained employees.

Enterprises in the fields of IT, automation, translation,architecture and construction, for instance, need a large number of highlyskilled staff, according to Dao.

Bui Thi Lan Oanh, deputy human resources manager of SeaprodexRefrigeration Industry Corp, told that the company is recruitingmechanical and electrical engineers for new projects.

"All positions required experience as well ascertificates from vocational schools or colleges," Oanh said.

"The company is working with universities such as HCMCity University of Technology and the Industrial University of HCM City toprovide internships and training for students."

To cope with rising competition, the company would offer asupervisor trainee programme with a competitive salary to final-year studentsand recent graduates. They planned to have them fully trained and ready tobecome professional supervisors within one year, she said.

Recruitment firm Navigos Search said that in the firstquarter, the highest recruitment demand in the country came from themanufacturing sector, accounting for 40 percent of the total demand.

The manufacturing industry grew by 13.56 percent in the firstquarter, according to data from companies surveyed by Navigos Search. Jobvacancies are at all levels, from labourers to engineers to managers.

In the north, industrial zones in the provinces of Hung Yen,Bac Ninh and Phu Tho and Hai Phong city lack the sufficient number of staff tofully operate foreign-built factories.

In the electronics sector, FDI enterprises have expandedfactories, especially South Korean companies, which have created 10,000 newjobs, leading to a shortage of human resources. Recruiters have expanded theiremployee search to more areas in the north.

Recruitment demand in the manufacturing sector in the southsoared, while some enterprises began to recruit more foreigner nationals fortop management positions.

Besides manufacturing, the top four sectors with the highestrecruitment demand in the first quarter were retail, finance-banking andinformation technology.

Recruitment demand for executive positions in the retailindustry rose dramatically, according to the data.

Beginning in March, many enterprises in the retail industryin the south began looking for more people to fill management jobs due toexpansion or restructuring.

The food and beverage sector, as well as the entertainmentindustry, have seen new brands appear, including franchise stores, which areall leading to dynamic growth in these sectors.

However, the retail industry in the second quarter isexpected to see a drop in recruitment as many jobs have been filled.

In the first quarter, retail and fashion enterprises in thenorth grew after expanding e-commerce activities.

Many companies in the fashion world plan to invest more inR&D and marketing to catch up with new fashion trends and build new brandstrategies.-VNA