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Production activities at Saigon Food Joint Stock Company. Photo: Internet

Stabilizing labor after Tet

After the Lunar New Year, most workers and employees in export processing zones and industrial zones in many provinces and cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai have returned to work.

According to statistics of the Hanoi Confederation of Labor, as of February 17, 90.6% of enterprises have opened factories for production, with 94.5% of the workers returning to work, concentrated in enterprises belonging to textile and garment industrial and export processing zones,and large-scale production enterprises.

Some enterprises planned to open on Monday, February 22. In particular, some enterprises opened factories from the 4th day of the Lunar New Year.

According to the Management Board of Export Processing Zones and Industrial Zones of Ho Chi Minh City (Hepza), on the first working day after the Tet holiday this year, about 40% of enterprises in export processing zones and industrial zones were back to operation.

The rate of workers working again was more than 60%.

Mr. Huynh Van Tuan, Chairman of Hepza Trade Union, said that on February 17, a number of companies welcomedworkers but were not yet officially open.

From February 18, the number of workers will reach a higher level, when enterprises officially begin production. Besides, during the last Tet holiday, over 75% of the employees did not return to their hometown, so the shortage of labor in enterprises would be negligible.

Dong Nai Labor Confederation said that according to preliminary statistics, by February 17, over 90% of workers in the province returned to work. Large enterprises had a large number of workers, the percentage of workers returning to work is 95%. Similarly, in Binh Duong,the number of workers in the province who returned to work was over 95%. In particular, to ensure the first orders in 2021, as well as create jobs and increase income for workers who didnot return home for Tet due to the pandemic, 44 enterprises inside and outside Binh Duong Industrial Parkorganizedwork through Tet with 6,752 employees.

Referring to the fluctuation of manpower, Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, Trade Union Chairman of Dai Dung Trade Construction Engineering Joint Stock Company, said that the company had more than 70% of the company's workers returning to work.

It was expected that by the 8th day of Tet,workers from remote provinces would return to the company. Fluctuations of labor shortage at the beginning of the year would be around 10%.

Similarly, at Saigon Food Joint Stock Company, after Tet, a high number of workers returned to work. In recent years, thanks to the implementation of salary,bonus and welfare policies for workers,the shortage of labor at the company was very low.

Specifically, Saigon Food had spent about VND48 billion to take care of employees. The company also organized bus trips to welcome workers back to work and would depart on the 10th in Thanh Hoa province.

Willing manpower to expand production

Although human resources are not significantly changed in 2021, many enterprises are currently in need of recruiting large numbers of employees to be ready for production and business expansion.

Saigon Co-op's retail system with nearly 20,000 employees and the large-scale recruitment at the beginning of the year is believed to be a signal of preparation for a series of new projects which this retail unit in 2021.

Specifically, Saigon Co-opwants to recruit chain managers, regional directors of Co.opmart,Co.op Food, and managerial positions of high-end supermarket chains.

Finelife is present in Vietnam for the first time, director of the modern department store Co.opSmile, and Cheers. In addition, they also want to recruitsenior positions and staff in the fields of information technology, quality management, accounting, auditing, human resources, professional training center, and warehouse.

In industrial parks, export processing zones, industrial clusters of Ho Chi Minh City, many foreign-invested enterprises havegreat labor recruitment demand such as: Daeyoung Electronics Vina Co., Ltd is in demandfor recruiting electronic engineers, production workers with the number of more than 300 people; Furukawa Automotive Parts Vietnam Co., Ltd. also announced it wouldhire 300 workers with an average income of VND8.5-10 million per month.

To attract workers to join the recruitment, this unit said that they would provideaccommodation and transportation.

According to Mr. Do Thanh Van, Deputy Director in charge of the Center for Human Resource Forecast and Labor Market Information in Ho Chi Minh City, in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, demand was expectedabout 270,000 - 300,000 jobsin Ho Chi Minh City by 2021, of which 140,000 were new jobs.

Enterprises implement plans to recruit personnel for stable development and expansion of production and business. In particular, the demand for human resourcesshifted towards increasing qualified and skilled labor, concentrated in industries such as information technology - electronics; mechanical; chemicals - plastics - rubber; transportation - warehouse - port service.