A regional job recruitment website has found that private-sector salaries are increasing faster in Vietnam than anywhere else in Southeast Asia.
Dan Tri reports that Jobstreet, which helps companies find employees in several regional countries, found that salaries in Vietnam increased 20-24% this year, compared to the Southeast Asian average of about 16%.
Angie Phang, Jobstreet's country manager for Vietnam, said at a news conference on the findings: "According to the survey, there are many factors supporting the positive growth results of Vietnam's human resources market in 2017. Together with increasing recruitment demand, the salary increase rate will continue to grow in the coming time."
Jobstreet also found that Vietnam boasts the second-highest employee happiness index in the region.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam expanded by 37.4% in the first 10 months of 2017, driving rapid growth in hiring, the news source shares. Company expansion is the main factor driving job growth, accounting for 68% of this increase.
Meanwhile, the jobs site found that the manufacturing and production, wholesale and construction, and engineering industries will grow fastest in 2018.
However, challenges remain for companies looking to expand their employee base. Almost half of the firms that took part in Jobstreet's survey said that finding qualified candidates is a major concern, especially when hiring for managerial positions.
The construction, IT and production sectors are particularly hamstrung by a dearth of qualified managers.
In order to meet such challenges, Jobstreet's Phang advised the following: "The challenge for Vietnam's hirers today is that it's a candidates market, and they need to form a competitive recruitment strategy comprising three major factors: a unique retention strategy for business continuity, building a talent bank for the future, and innovate technology for optimizing productivity."
[Photo via Thanh Nien]
