Increase in recruitment of seasonal workers near Tet

Labor market gradually recovering

According to Mr. Trinh Quang Thieu, Director of Thien An Investment, Trade and Human Resources Development Company Limited (Hanoi), the shortage of orders in some industries and fields still occurs, but at this time many enterprises in the North still have large orders, especially enterprises from China.

At present, the unit is receiving many recruitment applications from enterprises in large industrial parks in the North such as: Quang Chau (Bac Giang), Yen Phong (Bac Ninh), Vinh Phuc, mainly production workers in the fields of electronics, semiconductor chip manufacturing, textiles, footwear, seasonal workers...

In addition to the above large orders, the company also receives recruitment requests from businesses for common orders requiring from 500 - 700 workers, even up to over 2,000 people to work in circuit board assembly and leather shoe production positions, most of which only require unskilled workers, accounting for 95%.

Besides, there are still positions that need to recruit highly skilled workers, engineers, technical specialists, but the requirement for engineers is to have at least a college degree or higher, especially in the fields of mechanics, electricity, electronics, information technology...

At a recent job fair at the Hanoi Job Exchange, Mr. Nguyen Trung Hieu, a recruitment specialist at Vinhomes Joint Stock Company (Hanoi), said that from now until Lunar New Year, this unit is implementing two projects, Vinhomes Ocean Park 2 and Vinhomes Ocean Park 3 in Hung Yen, so it is recruiting many positions from security guards to technical experts, management board...

However, Mr. Nguyen Trung Hieu assessed that before Tet, recruitment also has difficulties because most candidates will want a Tet bonus, so they rarely change jobs or look for new jobs during this time.

From the perspective of a connecting unit, Mr. Vu Quang Thanh, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Employment Service Center, also commented that the recruitment needs of businesses are large but it is difficult to find candidates because near the holidays and Tet, full-time workers rarely change jobs.

Therefore, recruitment with the group of workers in the formal sector at present will be more limited. Currently, seasonal and part-time jobs will attract more informal workers.

Mr. Vu Quang Thanh predicted: “Through the center's information collection activities, in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the beginning of the first quarter of 2024, businesses will focus on recruiting many workers in the trade and service sector, especially retail; followed by groups of workers in the technology, processing, manufacturing, production sectors... to support units in completing orders. In addition, units in the fields of accommodation - tourism, information technology, e-commerce... also have higher recruitment needs than other sectors".

To connect the labor market near Tet, the Hanoi Employment Service Center will organize a mobile job fair in Quoc Oai district on January 13 and an online job fair with other provinces on January 18. With the strengthening of the connection between workers and businesses, Mr. Vu Quang Thanh expressed his hope that the labor market will continue to recover, businesses will be stable, and there will be many orders and jobs for workers.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Human Resources Forecasting and Labor Market Information, the city's human resource demand in the first quarter of 2024 is about 77,500 - 86,000 jobs. The trade and service sector needs 56,200 - 62,400 jobs (accounting for 72.63%); the industry and construction sector needs 21,100 - 23,400 jobs (accounting for 27.23%); the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector needs 109 - 120 jobs (accounting for 0.14%).

Through a survey of labor demand and collection of labor demand information at nearly 75,000 enterprises, the Center for Human Resources Demand Forecasting and Labor Market Information of Ho Chi Minh City also said: "Total labor demand in the first quarter of 2024, 4 key industrial groups including: Mechanics, electronics - information technology, food processing, pharmaceuticals - plastics - rubber need from 13,800 - 15,300 jobs".

Stabilize the labor market

Regarding the labor market in 2024, Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) Dao Ngoc Dung commented that in 2024, the world situation is forecast to remain complicated; the economy continues to face difficulties and challenges. Therefore, the labor sector will focus on implementing policies to stabilize the labor market and create jobs for workers.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs will continue to improve the system of policies and laws to synchronously develop labor market factors and improve the operational efficiency of market intermediary institutions. At the same time, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs will develop a labor market information system, enhance the application of information technology, digital transformation, and digitalization; increase the connection between labor supply and demand in the market, especially connecting the labor markets of provinces and cities in key economic regions (in need of a lot of labor) with the provinces in the Northern Midlands and Mountains, and the Mekong Delta - where there are abundant human resources.

According to many recruitment experts, to effectively attract, recruit and retain talent in the current difficult market context, businesses need to be well prepared, grasp market economic news, recruitment market trends and employee psychology to build an effective plan to attract, recruit and retain talent. Therefore, businesses need to build a transparent and attractive salary and bonus mechanism; focus on salary as a factor to attract candidates when recruiting; ensure salary and bonus policies for employees.

Meanwhile, according to the results of the 2024 Salary and Labor Market Report recently surveyed by Navigos Search, up to 454/555 enterprises in Vietnam responded that they were affected by market fluctuations in 2023, an estimated number accounting for more than 82% of the total number of enterprises.

To promptly adapt and cope with unpredictable fluctuations in the future, workers need to regularly update market news and new trends. In particular, early career guidance is not only for students and new employees but also for middle and high school students. From there, young people can proactively learn to develop soft skills right from school, grasp new work trends, and apply AI to improve work performance.