Nghe An is short of construction workers at the beginning of the year.

Scarcity of construction workers

In recent years, the urbanization rate has increased rapidly, and accordingly, the construction workers are often overwhelmed with work. Especially at the end of the year and after Tet, construction workers become "in demand" when there is a need for enough workers and "troops" to compete for projects.

In the first days of the year, at a high-rise construction site with state funding at Yen Thanh Medical Center, there were quite a few workers working at the site. The representative of the construction unit shared: The high-rise building has completed the rough construction, currently in the finishing stage, on a normal day there are more than 30 workers, including construction workers and construction assistants. But after more than 20 days after Tet, there are only 16-17 workers, we are currently contacting to call workers, if there are not enough "troops" it will affect the progress.

In addition, civil works in Yen Thanh district are lacking labor after Tet. Mr. Tran Van Hai - a resident of Trung Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) shared: Since January 16 (lunar calendar), the house foundation has been dug but the contractor is lacking workers, only has 2-3 workers so the progress is slow. The contractor only has 2-3 workers, currently actively calling for more workers in neighboring communes but has not found any. The difficulty in finding workers has disrupted our plans, we cannot move into the new house to do business and trade as planned, not to mention that the prolonged period of time can cause fluctuations in material prices and increase.

Mr. Tran Minh Tam - a contractor in the districtDien Chausaid: During Tet, we contracted to build 3 houses for people, all of which are in the finishing stage, but after Tet, there was a serious shortage of workers. For a long time, my construction team always maintained 15-17 workers, however, after Tet, some construction workers went to the South to do other jobs with higher income, so there was a shortage of workers. During this period, it was very difficult to find additional workers.

In the same situation, Mr. Luong Thanh Minh - a contractor in Quynh Luu district is also in a situation of "looking for workers with red eyes", when there are signed contracts for construction projects that must be completed, but after Tet it is not easy to find workers. "We need about 8-10 more workers, mainly skilled construction workers to construct 2 projects that we just received during Tet, but we still cannot find enough workers", Mr. Minh added.

In addition to civil works, Nghe An province has implemented a series of key projects such as highway projects, coastal road projects, and other construction projects in the districts during Tet, which are also facing a shortage of construction workers. According to the investigation, many workers are busy in their hometowns and often have to go to the construction site after January, or because there is no contract between the contractor and the worker, they can find another place to work with a higher salary, so the construction contractors are very passive.

Construction workers have high income but few people follow the profession

Through research, it is shown that although the construction worker's income is quite good, the main worker earns from 10-12 million VND/person/month, the assistant worker earns from 6-7 million VND/person/month, however, currently, very few young workers follow this profession. Sharing about this issue, Mr. Luu Van Nam - a construction worker in Dien Chau district said: Construction workers mainly work outdoors, hard, arduous, always facing danger, unsafe labor, most of them do not have social insurance, health insurance. Sometimes when working on projects far from home, they have to sleep in tents, shacks. Not to mention the unscientific rest, eating, and labor regeneration regime, long working hours, from early morning to late night, sometimes working all day on Saturdays and Sundays.

While most rural workers now flock to the South to work in industrial parks and factories, with stable salaries, working in an environment where the sun never touches their face or the rain never touches their head, and enjoying many welfare benefits...

Due to difficulties in attracting construction workers, many construction contractors have had to come up with solutions such as implementing good treatment for construction workers, finding new workers, young workers by raising the salary level. In addition, investing in machinery and equipment to reduce the workload for workers, as well as increase labor productivity. Some contractors have boldly invested in machinery costing up to tens of millions of VND such as mortar mixers, steel making machines, material winches, etc.

However, these are only temporary solutions. To stabilize the construction industry, more fundamental solutions are needed, changing the management method in the direction of ensuring health benefits and long-term life for workers, aiming for a professional working environment. In particular, it is necessary to invest in scaffolding and formwork systems, ensuring safety for workers. Only then can the current serious labor shortage in the construction industry be resolved.