Ho Chi Minh City labor market continues to be short
In 2026, the Ho Chi Minh City labor market is forecast to continue to be short, as the recruitment demand of businesses is still higher than the labor supply, putting competitive pressure to attract and retain workers.
Recruitment demand is 1.64 times greater than job search demand
At the end of 2025, when Panko Vina Co., Ltd. (My Phuoc 1 Industrial Park, Ben Cat Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) announced that due to difficulties in orders, it would cease operations and could affect the jobs of about 2,700 workers, a series of businesses immediately arrived or informed that they would re-recruit workers from Panko Vina Co., Ltd.
Only 8 textile and garment enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City have wanted to recruit about 3,600 workers from Panko Vina Co., Ltd. to work in new factories or supplement production lines.
In addition, there are many other enterprises that need to recruit more workers from Panko Vina Co., Ltd. This shows that the demand for labor recruitment is always higher than the supply.
The report of the Ho Chi Minh City Employment Service Center in 2025 shows that in 2025, the whole of Ho Chi Minh City will have 191,790 people applying for jobs. On the other hand, businesses have a need to recruit 313,681 jobs, 1.64 times higher than supply, showing that the market is in a state of labor shortage.
According to Ms. Nguyen Van Hanh Thuc - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Employment Service Center, in the context of businesses expanding production and business, and increasing competitive pressure to attract workers, workers have more opportunities to access jobs.
Forecast of continued labor shortage in 2026
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper reporters on January 5, Mr. Huynh Van Choi - Executive Director of Viet Hung Joint Stock Company (a garment processing specialist for export, located in Trung My Tay ward, Ho Chi Minh City) said that the company currently has more than 530 employees. For many months, the company has still needed to recruit about 200 more workers with a salary of more than 9 million VND/person/month and an income of more than 11 million VND/person/month to meet the unfinished sewing line, but has not been recruited yet.
Mr. Le Van Lam - Sales Director of Phuong Dong Garment Joint Stock Company (HCMC) said that the company also needs to recruit more than 650 workers with a salary of 6 - 11 million VND/person/month to work for the 2 new factories of this enterprise. Thanh Cong Textile, Garment Investment and Trading Joint Stock Company is recruiting 500 workers at all stages of the garment line to work in Tay Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City. However, these needs have not been met yet.
At the first " Job Fair" program in Thoi Hoa ward, Ho Chi Minh City in 2026 organized by the People's Committee of the ward in coordination with My Phuoc Industrial and Urban Development Enterprise on January 4, 34 enterprises participated with a need to recruit more than 10,000 workers, including many enterprises recruiting from 400 to 1,000 people.
According to Ms. Nguyen Van Hanh Thuc, it is forecasted that in 2026, the labor market of Ho Chi Minh City will still maintain a state of demand exceeding supply. The biggest challenge is the risk of "uncompatible demand", due to the large gap between the qualifications and abilities of workers and the requirements of businesses, clearly demonstrated in 2025, job seekers with high school and junior high school degrees (more than 53%), while businesses need more than 178,440 professional workers with clear practical, technical and professional skills.
Another challenge is the competition to attract and retain workers, especially in Binh Duong province (formerly), where there was a large unskilled labor force but labor fluctuations after Tet were always high. Therefore, businesses need to increase salaries, bonuses, improve working conditions and welfare policies to retain employees. If there are no timely adjustments, the risk of labor shortage in 2026 is entirely possible.
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