Dong Nai faces severe labour shortage

A serious labour shortage has hit nearly 200 enterprises operating in the southern province of Dong Nai after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday with thousands quitting their jobs, the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has reported.

South Korean-owned Taekwang Vina Company, which specialises in making sports shoes in the province's Bien Hoa Industrial Park No2, said it had received 500 applications from workers who wanted to terminate their labour contracts by the end of last month.

The company said it had failed to recruit the 1,500 workers it needed to make up for the expected post-Tet labour shortage as well as work to fulfill orders for the first quarter of the year.

Japanese-owned Mabuchi Motor Co Ltd, also in Bien Hoa Industrial Park No2, is in the same situation with 200 workers giving up their jobs. Recruiting enough workers to fill up the empty positions was a really hard task, not to mention that it took time to train the new recruits, the company said.

According to the provincial labour department, one reason for workers refusing to return to major industrial cities and provinces HCM City, Dong Nai and Binh Duong is the opening of new industrial parks in almost all provinces in the central and northern regions. In the major economic hubs, workers have to spend most of their earnings on accommodation and daily living expenses, department officials say.

Now they can enjoy similar income and working conditions at industrial parks in their hometown, with an average monthly salary of VND2.2 million (US$115).

The department estimates that enterprises in the province will need to recruit 50,000 new workers this year.