EPZs, IZs in Southern Key Economic Zone Facing Labour Shortage

Ms. Ngoc Lien, Vice Director of the Employment Service Centre run by the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority management (HEPZA), said: “At the beginning of the year, the demand for employees from businesses suddenly increases with over 10,000 jobs available for workers. Many foreign investors have ordered the immediate recruitment of 1,000 to 2,000 workers”.

 

Of which, Tan Thuan EPZ needs to immediately recruit 9,000 labourers in electronic and spectacle assembly and sewing; Linh Trung, Tan Tao and Le Minh Xuan EPZs have advertises to recruit more than 3,000 workers in the garment industry, carpentry, processing feeds for shrimp and producing construction materials.

 

Although employment offices at the centre have been open since the 4^th of the lunar New Year and the numbers of people registering for jobs are rather high, they can only meet about 10 per cent of demand.

 

Despite planning to recruit a large number of workers before the lunar New Year Nissei Co. (Japan) is still concerned with “how to find worker”.

 

Early in 2006, orders increased so our company needed to recruit 1,000 labourers immediately. Moreover, we are in urgent need of substitutes for workers who have left after Tet holidays, said Ms Huynh Mai, human resource manager of the company.

 

Ms Mai added: “To keep labourers, apart from giving them wages and allowances higher than the minimum issued, our company also offers them good accommodation. However, we can not do anything else if they still want to leave.”

 

In Industrial Zones (IZs) of Dong Nai and Bing Duong provinces, requirement for workers post tet is a headache to many entrepreneurs and foreign investors. In Song Than IZ (Binh Duong), many factories hang panels with large lines advertising for manual labourers, workers in the garment industry and carpentry among others.

Mr Le Mai Thanh, Director of the Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service in Dong Nai province, said labour shortage after Tet holidays is inevitable, because even normally, many businesses in IZs could not recruit workers. In 2005, the whole province was short of over 20,000 workers.

 

This year, the requirement for workers of businesses in Dong Nai’s IZs has increased to 46,000 people, so the labour shortage may be more serious than last year. Binh Duong province also needs to recruit 40,000 workers in 2006, but the supply from locals and immigrants remains unstable.

 

According to Ms Nguyen Thi Kim, Director of the Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Service of Binh Duong province, in 2005, the province’s labour market varied significantly. While new recruits did not meet the demand for workers of businesses and investors, the number of people who left and changed positions increasingly grew. This is a common difficulty for the labour market in Southern key economic areas, of which Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces face big problems.

 

Explaining this situation, labour managers said, many rural labourers rushed to major cities to find jobs years ago due to the shortage of jobs and low living standard. But nowadays, there are many IZs in localities, welcoming entrepreneurs and foreign investors, therefore, rural labourers can find jobs in their localities rather than being away and suffering expensive cost of living in big cities.

 

In addition, the better economic growth rate and the increase of domestic and foreign investments, with the establishment and expansion of numerous enterprises caused a serious labour shortage early this year. Besides, the fact that levels of wages are unequal in sectors and professions is a latent reason, leading to changes and ending in labour shortages in businesses in EPZs and IZs.

 

The Government has recently issued a decision on increasing minimum salary in foreign-invested sectors, in EPZs and IZs (applicable as of February 1^st, 2006), however, this level does not correspond with the labour market. Therefore, to keep workers, enterprises should develop policies on attracting labourers and giving them proper treatment.

 

The fact shows that the spreading labour shortage will have a dramatic impact on economic growth rates in general and on the investment speed and operation expansion of enterprises. Therefore, local authorities should find solutions to ease this problem, thus supplying a stable labour source to EPZs and IZs.