Labour Market 2009: Who is Most Needed?

The year 2007 was the prime time for finance, real estate and IT industries. In 2008, these industries began experiencing the global financial crisis and domestic difficulties. Under the recent economic conditions, enterprises as well labourers tend to be more careful when considering a career change. The most simple and effective method to tighten the spending to survive in the economic recession is to cut staff. Layoffs are forecast to surge in industries that had recruited more people in the past two years. Finance, real estate and IT industries are predicted to be most hard hit with layoffs.

 

The collapse of leading banks in the world caused many people to lose their job. For instance, Citigroup, the second largest bank in the United States, revealed a plan to fire an additional 52,000 employees in early 2009. In the first nine months of 2008, this bank cut 23,000 positions. The firing is aimed to reduce spending amid a mounting crisis.

 

The bad situation is also being felt in Vietnam. The slump of the stock market has forced brokerage companies to cut their staff by 20 per cent - 30 per cent or adopt other measures to reduce spending. Many specialists pointed out that the financial industry was at a prime time in 2007 and in early 2008 and workers in this industry usually received higher pays. Nonetheless, a wide scale layoffs will occur in this industry.

 

The IT industry is also suffering from the economic crisis. If students were confident to find good jobs immediately after graduation in 2007, then the newly graduated are feeling pessimistic because as much as 10 per cent - 15 per cent of IT workers will be laid off in 2009. FPT, a leading IT firm in Vietnam, decided to reduce staff by 10 per cent in July 2008.

 

According to experts, construction, tourism and service sectors will also face a similar situation in 2009 because of weak demands. Travelling will be a luxury option for many. The economic crisis is leaving adverse impacts on business operations of travel and service firms and of course shrinking incomes of labourers in these sectors. "In 2009, if the situation is not better, we will have to cut staff," an executive of a service firm said.

While most industries are forecast to suffer a downturn, the year 2009 is forecast to belong to medicine and pharmaceutical industries. The Ministry of Health informed that the healthcare sector is still short of human resources. The ministry said that a domestic company needs to recruit an additional 40 - 80 employees a year, mainly university graduates. At present, about 55,000 doctors are serving more than 85 million Vietnamese people. Thus, only 6.4 doctors take care of 10,000 residents on average. In remote areas, the ratio is only 2/10,000. Also according to this ministry, hospitals will need around 6,000 doctors, 1,500 pharmacists, 10,000 nurses and 7,000 other staff a year. The demand of hospitals from now to 2010 is more than 74,000 people. This is the “magnet” of labour in the coming time.

 

On the other hand, when the economy stagnates, companies will try their best to secure a stronger foothold and show off their capacities in the hard time. This is also the chance for communication, marketing and sales to develop. According to a survey from the job website in Vietnam, Vietnamworks.com, sales, marketing and communication sectors have the highest demand at the moment.