Taiwanese firm lays off 65% of staff over lack of orders

Footgearmex Footwear Co., Ltd, a Taiwanese-invested footwear maker in Ho Chi Minh City, has laid off 65% of its 1,822 employees due to a serious dearth of orders derived from global economic slowdown.

The laid off workers included 936 with indefinite employment contracts and 249 with one-year contracts, the HCMC Federation of Labor said Wednesday.

The firm, located in An Lac ward, Binh Tan district, paid severance allowance to laborers working from 2008 or earlier per the Labor Code and two-month salary payments to all laborers who lost their jobs Wednesday.

The municipal center for employment services said it received 10,440 applications for unemployment support in October. The January-October figure was 128,000, up 26% year-on-year, it added.

Economic experts said in a meeting Tuesday that the city's economic situation is getting worse.

HCMC recorded economic growth of 9.97% in the first 10 months of this year, however, a higher pace next year is unlikely due to both internal and external factors, said HCMC Mayor Phan Van Mai.

Truong Minh Huy Vu from Vietnam National University HCMC said the global contexts are exerting negative impacts on the city economy, while official information on a series of economic crimes have also affected market sentiment.

Economist Tran Du Lich said high inflation and the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) raising interest rates have pushed the global economy into stagflation. "Signs of global economic recession are pretty clear."