Some Saigon-based companies are struggling to find highly skilled manual workers.
According to Dan Tri, companies looking for candidates to fill manual labor positions are all suffering a dry spell as young Saigoneers prefer better jobs. At a job center in Thu Duc District, some 65% of job postings call for component assembly workers or machine operators.
Located on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, Thu Duc is home to many workshops, factories and processing mills. In an interview with the newspaper, Huynh Thi Thuy Trang, a human resource executive from Nissei Electric Vietnam shared that her firm is also facing a shortage.
"The labour force in the company is very unstable lately because many female workers returned to their hometown to get married or didn't want to work the night shifts,” Trang explained.
While the hands-on work at factories might be a good starting point for fresh graduates, many experienced workers leave to pursue better endeavors with better pay and less pressure.
Speaking to Dan Tri, Hoang Ngoc Sy and his wife shared that they both formerly worked at a Panasonic factory in Vietnam, but had to find other jobs when they decided to start a family because their pay of VND6 million and VND5 million, respectively, wasn’t enough.
They now operate an online shop selling food via delivery, which allows them time and freedom to take care of their young children as well as more stable income.
Worker retention is not a problem unique to Saigon’s job market. According to a recent survey by specialist professional recruitment consultancy Robert Walters, up to 67% Vietnamese enterprises aspire to expand overseas, but finding and retaining highly skilled workers are always a big hurdle, reports Saigon Times.
This is due to the candidates’ high salary requests and low qualifications. On the employees’ side, the survey revealed that local workers are most interested in promotion prospects when looking for jobs, followed by the reputation of the company and how much they contribute to the economy and community.
[Photo via Dan Tri]
