95% of workers return to work after Tet

Instead of resuming operations on the sixth day of the lunar year on Friday as usual, many companies in the north this year opted to reopen on Monday to give their workers, especially those living in the northern highlands provinces, more time with their families.

All 1,190 businesses in Bac Ninh’s industrial parks, home to many foreign enterprises, have resumed operations with more than 99.6% of workers returning to work, according to a report by the province Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The rest are returning late because they could not book train or coach tickets due to the rush or switched jobs, it said.

Companies outside industrial zones reported 99.5% of their employees have returned.

Bac Giang Province, also a major industrial hub in the north, has no labor shortage now unlike at the beginning of 2022 when the country started to reopen its economy post-pandemic.

Tran Van Ha, deputy director of the province’s labor department, said many companies, especially in the electronics sector, plan to expand production and so need to recruit 17,000 workers this quarter.

Thai Nguyen Province has more than 8,700 businesses with more than 230,000 employees.

Nearly 95% of them have returned to work after Tet.

In Hanoi, more than 83% of enterprises have resumed work and 95% of their workers have returned.

In the southern province of Dong Nai, major garment and textile businesses that employ tens of thousands of workers resumed operation on Monday and saw a high rate of returning workers.

Nike and Adidas suppliers Taekwang Vina, Pouchen and Changshin reported 93-99% of their workers have come back to work after Tet, according to the province’s Labor Confederation.

Binh Duong Province’s labor department also reported “stable” return of workers after the holiday, with around 86% of workers coming back by Monday, while a number of businesses have plans to delay reopening until the first two weeks of February.

Earlier on Friday, hundreds of companies that resumed operations in Ho Chi Minh City after the Tet holiday reported that 95% of their laborers have returned to work.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs has said labor-intensive industries such as textile and garment, leather and footwear, wood processing, and supporting industries would continue to lose orders and face difficulties until the end of the first quarter.

Hundreds of companies with 637,000 workers have been affected so far.

The labor ministry estimated nearly 272,000 workers would have their working hours reduced after Tet while 15,800 would lose their jobs altogether.