Businesses need to recruit 400,000 laborers in first 6 months: ministry

Businesses in Vietnam need to recruit 400,000 high-skill laborers in the first half of this year, amid a labor shortage in some sectors, according to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Previewing the labor sector this year, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung noted labor-intensive sectors like apparel-textiles, footwear and handbags would face labor shortages.

He said the shortage would affect firms in the southern region, including Ho Chi Minh City and provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Tay Ninh. "The labor shortage would occur mostly among foreign-invested enterprises, while domestic private businesses and state-run companies would not face such problems."

Reviewing employment, the minister said in the last months of 2022, over 600 companies across the country had to cut 53,000 staff due to reduction in orders. However, at the same time, other businesses had a recruitment demand of 300,000, indicating that the labor shortage is a local issue. Dung affirmed suitable allocation of the workforce is critical to addressing the problem.

Besides, employers should focus on retaining high-skill and training low-skill employees as job requirements become more and more demanding, the labor minister noted.

He stressed the aging population is a troubling matter for Vietnam, adding that the ministry plans to improve the labor market to utilize both young and elderly people with willingness to work.

On tasks for 2023, Dung said lawbuilding is the key solution, with amendments to the laws on social insurance and employment as major factors for the labor market.

Vietnam's unemployment rate dropped 1.7 percentage points year-on-year to 2.28% in the third quarter (Q3) of 2022, the lowest since 2020. However, the figure inched up 0.04 percentage points to 2.32% in Q4, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

Overall, in 2022, the unemployment rate reached 2.32%, ranging from 2.79% in urban areas to 2.03% in rural areas. Notably, the unemployment rate was high at 7.72% for young people (age between 15 and 24). The whole-year underemployment rate was 2.21%.

Amid the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery, the workforce rose 239,400, or 0.5%, to 52.13 million from Q3 to Q4 last year. Overall, the country’s workforce expanded 2.17% year-on-year to 51.66 million in 2022.

Labor productivity reached $8,083 per worker in 2022, up by $622 or 4.8% after a year. The GSO attributed the development to the higher capacity of laborers, indicated by the rate of certified workers at 26.2%, up 0.1 percentage points year-on-year.

The average monthly income of contracted laborers reached VND7.5 million ($317) last year, up by VND992,000 or 15.24% year-on-year.