Nguyen Van Hanh Thuc, director of the HCM City Employment Service Centre, said recruitment demand was rising and had surpassed the number of people looking for work.
Employers sought to fill 27,607 positions in August, compared with 21,035 jobseekers, according to the centre.
Despite the improvement, mismatches between labour supply and demand persisted across sectors and skill levels, leaving some employers struggling to recruit while some workers were unable to find jobs.
In the garment, textile and footwear sector, employers sought 3,558 workers, while only 1,420 people were looking for jobs. By contrast, the restaurant, hotel and tourism sector had 794 vacancies and 1,441 jobseekers.
The mismatch was more pronounced across qualification levels. Untrained workers and technical workers without formal qualifications or certificates accounted for more than 53 per cent of total recruitment demand, but supply remained insufficient.
Meanwhile, the supply of university graduates exceeded demand in some sectors.
Demand for manual and technical workers is expected to continue rising in the coming months as businesses prepare for year-end production orders and supply-chain needs. Recruitment in trade, digital business and services is also forecast to pick up.
Competition is expected to remain high among university graduates seeking administrative and office jobs.
Thuc said workers needed to strengthen their practical skills, while employers should offer more flexible remuneration packages to attract production workers.
In the first eight months of the year, the centre provided counselling and vocational training support to more than 5,000 people receiving unemployment benefits.
The centre plans to work with vocational education institutions in September to step up training support for unemployed workers.
