Nghe An: Industrial zones 'thirsty' for tens of thousands of workers

The demand for labor is growing.

According toSoutheast Economic Zone Management Board, with positive signals in attracting investment, the demand for labor in the area in Industrial Parks (IPs) is increasing. Specifically, if in 2016, the Economic Zone (EZ) with 6 IPs employed 17,150 workers, of which the number of recruited people was 2,489 people, by 2021 with 132 enterprises in operation, it employed 30,079 people, of which 6,440 people were recruited; In the first 6 months of 2022, the number of workers in the EZ was 29,247 people and it is expected that by the end of the year, an additional 10,006 people will be needed..

Workers interact and learn about job opportunities at the Job Connection Fair organized by VSIP Nghe An Industrial Park in coordination with the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board. Photo: Nguyen Hai

A representative of the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board said: In addition to the enterprises that have come into operation, it is expected that in the period of 2022-2025, the Economic Zone and Industrial Park will attract over 100 investment projects.

Along with large-scale projects that employ a lot of labor are Goertek Vina Precision Mechanical Co., Ltd., Everwin Precision Vietnam Technology Co., Ltd., in the near future, whenJuteng Electronics Assembly Project(Vietnam) and the Hoa Loi Group's footwear production project in Hoang Mai come into operation, the labor demand is expected to increase from 80-100 thousand people.

A corner of VSIP Nghe An Industrial Park in Hung Tay Commune, Hung Nguyen. Photo: Nguyen Hai

In recent years, to meet the labor recruitment needs in the Economic Zone, through forums connecting supply and demand, the province has prepared resources to meet the recruitment needs of businesses.

Electronics manufacturing and infrastructure investment and business enterprises also proactively coordinate with vocational training institutions in the area to prepare human resources for the recruitment of enterprises. Typical examples are Goertek Vina Precision Mechanical Co., Ltd., Everwin Precision Technology Company; industrial park infrastructure investors and businesses such as VSIP Nghe An Co., Ltd. signed cooperation agreements withVinh University, Vinh University of Industry, Vinh University of Technical Education training, labor recruitment, Joint Stock CompanyWHA Industrial Zone Nghe AnCooperate with Van Xuan University of Technology to train and recruit workers.

Vocational training institutions in the area have cooperated with 90 enterprises inside and outside the province to train and recruit 7,042 workers.

Over 1,200 workers came to learn and connect to find jobs at the June 2022 Job Fair organized by VSIP Nghe An Industrial Park. Photo: Nguyen Hai

According to Mr. Tran Phi Hung - Head of the Employment Department, Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Nghe An currently has 1.6 million people of working age, every year from 45-50 thousand young workers are added to the workforce, so it can be said that the labor source is very abundant. The demand for jobs for workers is increasing. However, for many reasons, businesses in the Economic Zone find it difficult to recruit workers and there is a risk of shortage in the future.

In the period 2015-2020 alone, of the 189,056 workers who were newly employed, 55,013 were in the province, accounting for 29.09%; 69,300 were from other provinces, accounting for 36.65%; 64,743 were working abroad under contract, accounting for 34.2%; in the first 9 months of 2022, 18,864 people went abroad to work, accounting for 46% of the 40,954 new jobs in the area.

Mr. Tran Phi Hung - Head of Employment and Labor Safety Department, Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs

The reason why Nghe An workers often choose to work outside the province or export labor is because the average monthly salary in Nghe An is quite low (6.0 million/month) compared to the whole country's 6.6 million VND; meanwhile, exporting labor gives an income 5-8 times higher.

Solutions to proactively supply labor

In recent meetings with provincial leaders, representatives of Em-Tech Vinh Company and Lux ​​share - ICT Vietnam Company were both concerned about the difficulty in recruiting workers and asked the province to accompany and support them in recruiting. Similarly, although they are in the construction phase, with a demand of nearly 40,000 workers, Everwin Precision Vietnam Company and Juteng Vietnam (at Hoang Mai 1 Industrial Park) also hope that the province will have a more specific plan to support businesses in recruiting local workers.

General Director of Everwin Precision Technology Vietnam Company informed about the Company's human resource needs in the period of 2023-2026 after completing construction and putting into operation. Photo: Nguyen Hai

According to Mr. Doan Hong Vu - Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, in order to attract workers to work in industrial parks, contributing to removing the above bottlenecks and limitations, the Department has recently coordinated with the Southeast Economic Zone and infrastructure investors to organize a fair to connect labor supply and demand. However, in the long term, the province needs to grasp the developments of labor supply and demand, especially in terms of quantity, occupations, and qualifications, to have plans and solutions to connect labor supply and demand, proactively solving the difficulties of labor shortage in localities and key production areas.

Mr. Nguyen Van Khoa - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training provided information on the results of streaming, career guidance, and vocational training for businesses to choose and develop plans. Photo: Nguyen Hai

To do this, recruiting businesses need to coordinate with labor management agencies to support the labor recruitment process. In the past, although it was a specialized management unit, this Department did not receive plans and labor use plans from businesses according to investment projects, so it was quite passive.

Leaders of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs analyzed the structure and employment trends of the province's laborers every year at the Labor Supply and Demand Connection Workshop on the afternoon of October 10. Photo: Nguyen Hai

In addition, the Management Board of the Southeast Economic Zone proposed that there should be a mechanism to attract and retain employees to work at the enterprise stably and long-term by taking care of the material and spiritual life of employees; building a salary and income regime that is worthy; enterprises have policies to support employees in terms of salary, meal allowance, seniority (periodic salary increase), responsibility allowance and other insurance and social welfare regimes so that employees can feel secure in their long-term commitment, increase labor productivity, bring profits and sustainable development to the enterprise.

The 2nd workshop on connecting labor supply and demand in industrial parks and economic zones was jointly organized by the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board and the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Signing of labor supply agreement between Vietnam - Korea Vocational College and labor using units. Photo courtesy of Nghe An Newspaper

Sharing the same view, the representative of Nghe An Labor Service Center shared: Enterprises in the economic zone mainly need unskilled workers but prioritize knowing foreign languages ​​(English, Chinese), so it is not easy to recruit and must be trained. Therefore, from now on, each enterprise must have a labor demand plan for each industry, "place orders" with the State management agency to have a support plan, coordinate with schools and job service centers to prepare resources if they do not want to fall into passivity and shortage.