Understaffed businesses need 300,000 plus workers in HCMC

According to a recent survey by the HCMC Center of Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labor Market Information (Falmi), the city’s labor market faces two scenarios depending on future Covid development.

If Covid-19 is brought under control, businesses need to recruit 280,000-310,000 workers. The demand for human resources in the first quarter would be nearly 87,000, second quarter over 72,000, third quarter 74,000, and fourth quarter, 77,000.

Should the pandemic situation remain complex, the city’s labor demand would be about 255,000-280,000 staff. The highest would be in the first three months of the year at over 78,000.

The trade and service sector has shown the sharpest increase in recruitment demand this year, accounting for nearly 66 percent and including commerce, transportation and warehousing, accommodation, catering and others.

Recruitment demand for the industry and construction group accounts for over 33 percent, including mechanical engineering, electronics production, food processing, beverage, and pharmaceuticals.

The report found up to 86 percent of recruitment demand does not require workers to have a college degree.

Regarding market response, Falmi stated that on average, the city produces about 500,000 students and graduates each year, including from university, college, intermediate, elementary and vocational training levels.

Therefore, it is expected the city’s labor force would meet recruitment demand among enterprises this year.

The agency noted that this year the city’s labor force would reach nearly 5 million employees, of which more than 3 million work in enterprises and factories.

Last year, according to a Falmi survey, nearly 65,000 businesses across HCMC had to recruit more than 174,000 workers, though the number of job seekers was only around 135,000.