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HCMC garment firms cannot find workers from hordes of unemployed
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The current worker shortage is not unusual for the Ho Chi Minh City garment industry but the timing is – it comes this time in the midst of rising unemployment caused by the global economic meltdown.

City statistics show 21,000 workers unemployed as of February but clothing makers cannot find enough personnel to fill vacancies.

The HCMC Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA) said its 17 member enterprises are in urgent need of 11,000 workers, 8,000 of at apparel firms.

Huu Nghi Garment Company has spent VND30 million on advertisements this year for hiring 500 workers at an average salary of VND2.4 million a month, but has managed to recruit only a small number.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Quang, managing director of Long An Garment and Textile Company, said her company advertised hundreds of vacancies, but has employed only 10 workers.

Most applicants are unskilled and inexperienced while companies are looking for skilled workers because they do not want to waste time training them in this difficult period, Ms. Quang said.

Foreign-owned companies have plenty of orders but not enough workers to execute them and have to employ other companies for the purpose.

Some companies, however, have no orders but have to pay their workers about 30 percent of their monthly salaries just to keep them.

Workers, to avoid being jobless, prefer to accept the low salary and wait for orders rather than look for another job.

Many of the companies that face a worker shortage laid off people before Tet when they did not get any orders due to the global recession. Now, when orders are flowing in again, they cannot find workers.

Many workers did not return to the city after visiting their hometown during Tet, with some saying prices are too high in the city and many others preferring to work at industrial parks in their own neighborhood to stay close to their family.

But it is bizarre that many unemployed workers are unable to find jobs while at the same time many factories cannot find workers.

One reason could be that while many employment agencies post “workers wanted” ads online, many workers are unable to access the Internet or do not know how.

By My Hanh – Translated by Hoang Yen