Labor paradox in Ho Chi Minh City - places lacking people, places lacking jobs

Struggling between income and distance

Having worked as a garment worker for more than 5 years at Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, Ms. Nguyen Thi My Duyen (Tan Thuan ward) quit her job to find a higher income. However, for the past 3 months, she has not found a suitable job in terms of salary and travel distance.

Ms. Duyen shared: "Overseas workers like us, when changing environments, all hope to have a slightly higher salary to cover living expenses. In fact, applying for jobs for the past few months, I have seen that the place that meets the desired salary is too far from home. Conversely, companies nearby with good working environments have incomes that are not yet reached. The inability to find a balance between salary and bonuses and travel distance has made me struggle from then until now.

Not only general labor, high-tech personnel also face a similar situation. Having worked in the technology sector for 7 years with a specialty in data, Mr. Nguyen Minh Hoang (resident of Gia Dinh ward, Ho Chi Minh City) is facing difficulties in his journey to find new jobs. Mr. Hoang said that the current job market is quieter than in previous years. Compared to about 2025, the general salary level is trending downwards. For experienced people, the problem is not necessarily not finding a job, but finding a position with a salary level commensurate with their ability.

According to Mr. Hoang, the technology industry group is currently very competitive. In the context of a large market fluctuation, inexperienced people are increasingly finding it difficult to find jobs, while experienced people still have to accept some disadvantages in income or working conditions if they want to get a job.

Businesses struggle to find recruitment sources

In the opposite direction, records at Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone show that many units still hang recruitment banners in front of the gate. Many businesses arrange personnel to different locations, place counters to receive applications directly, but still fall into a shortage of recruitment sources.

Being assigned the target of recruiting more than 100 personnel for the Garment Enterprise and the Dyeing Enterprise to serve the newly established branch in Cu Chi from July, Mr. Pham Anh Tuan - staff of the Organization and Administration Department of Textile and Garment Joint Stock Company 7 - admitted that labor attraction work faces many difficulties. Although the enterprise's leadership has made many commitments on preferential policies, the attraction of general labor and skilled personnel from the inner city area has not yet reached the expected number.

Sharing about the biggest barrier today, Mr. Tuan said: "The company's new branch is located in Cu Chi, so many workers in the inner city are very reluctant to go far. A rather paradoxical reality is that although information on the market signals a very large job search demand, the number of applications businesses receive through online recruitment sites is very small, less than twenty sets.

Besides the geographical distance factor, the strict professional inspection from affiliated enterprises is also the reason why many candidates stop. For positions requiring technical skills and management capacity such as chain leaders or team leaders, most candidates after going through in-depth direct interviews in charge of professional departments have not met job standards. This situation puts businesses in a difficult position when they both struggle to find direct workers and lack highly skilled management personnel for new production lines.

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