Challenges for Nghe An labor market in 2023

In 2022, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the first months of the year and the global economic recession caused many fluctuations in the labor market. This is also a challenge for the labor market in 2023. To better understand this issue, Nghe An Newspaper had a conversation with Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan - Director of the Provincial Employment Service Center.

-Dear Sir, 2022,Covid-19 epidemichas been controlled but it seems that the labor market still has certain difficulties. So what causes that situation?

Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan:Recently, with adaptive and flexible response solutions and continuous efforts to restore and develop the economy of the entire political system, from the central to local levels, the Covid-19 pandemic has been controlled, so most production and business activities have returned to normal as before the Covid-19 pandemic appeared.

Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan (standing, black shirt) provides job counseling to workers at the Provincial Employment Service Center. Photo: My Ha

As a result, the labor market recorded some positive signs showing a strong recovery compared to the same period last year. The labor force, the number of employed people, and the average monthly income of workers all increased compared to 2021.

However, the labor market still has certain difficulties for a number of reasons such as: The world situation is complicated, especially the impact of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia causing the world economy to decline, inflation, price escalation, and the demand for goods, especially imported goods from Vietnam, is reduced. This will reduce orders for Vietnamese export enterprises.

In addition, high inflation has increased the cost of importing raw materials from abroad, making it difficult for domestic production and business activities, forcing many establishments to reduce production scale or close factories. This also leads to a local imbalance in labor supply and demand by location, by industry group and by skill level.

-Over the years, the Provincial Employment Service Center has had many activities as a connecting unit between workers and businesses throughout the province. How effective have those connections been in finding job opportunities for workers, sir?

Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan:In order to promptly support job information for workers, over the past year, the Center has focused on promoting the collection of recruitment needs of businesses inside and outside the province.

Therefore, on average each year the Center collects recruitment needs from nearly 1,000 businesses with nearly 150,000 vacant jobs.

As a bridge between workers and businesses, in 2022, the Center has promoted propaganda work for workers and local authorities in many forms such as: Organizing job fairs, job transaction sessions to villages and hamlets; through multimedia communication channels such as: website, facebook, zalo; propaganda through traditional channels such as: banners, flags, leaflets, publications...

Mobile job fairs at the facility help local workers have more opportunities to find jobs. Photo: TTVL

Recently, we have also organized 53 mobile job fairs, organized festivals, and district-level job connection programs in Que Phong, Nghia Dan, Quynh Luu and Tan Ky districts and organized more than 50 online job fairs to connect with remote workers.

In particular, in the face of a number of unemployed workers, we have coordinated with the Southeast Economic Zone to introduce unemployed workers to participate in the VSIP Nghe An recruitment fair. Organized a job fair and provided vocational training and unemployment insurance policies for 250 workers in Thanh Chuong district who lost their jobs due to the dissolution of ABC International Group Joint Stock Company. By the end of 2022, we have also provided job and vocational training advice to more than 33,000 people, introduced and supplied labor to more than 4,000 people, reaching 120% of the assigned plan and increasing by 21% over the same period last year.

This year, the demand for jobs is still very positive, because according to collected data, the recruitment demand in the first quarter of 2023 of nearly 150 enterprises inside and outside the province is more than 60,000 vacant jobs, focusing on the fields of electronic assembly, processing, machinery manufacturing, and garment.

-At the end of 2022, the number of unemployment cases in Nghe An increased compared to the same period in 2021, of which the number of cases transferred from other localities increased by 40%. In your opinion, is this unusual and puts pressure on the province's labor market in 2023?

Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan:In 2022, the number of people with Decisions to receive unemployment insurance was 20,897, an increase of 53.1%. Of which, 12,633 people transferred from other localities to receive benefits, accounting for 60.5%. In the fourth quarter alone, 6,090 people registered for unemployment insurance, accounting for 30%, an increase of 17% over the same period.

Workers come to learn about job information at the Provincial Employment Service Center. Photo: My Ha

The above data shows that the number of workers applying for unemployment benefits in the last quarter of 2022 as well as in the whole year of 2022 increased compared to the same period, but this is not an unusual factor.

Currently, according to the forecast of many units and experts, after the Lunar New Year 2023, the world economic situation will still fluctuate, while Vietnam's economy has a large openness, so the influence from the general context will continue to affect domestic enterprises as well as the labor market picture of Nghe An province.

Therefore, we also forecast that the number of workers applying for unemployment insurance may increase in early 2023, but this factor is not worrying and not surprising. Some export industries are being affected by orders and production is shrinking, but the number of workers in these industries only accounts for a small proportion of the labor market. The bright spot is that there are other industries that are still expanding, such as professions and services.

In 2023, the provincial labor sector strives to create jobs for 43,000 workers and the average number of recruitment units in the area registering through the Provincial Employment Service Center annually is about 50,000 workers.

From the above data, we can also see that the number of workers participating in unemployment insurance and the labor market, the demand for labor recruitment in Nghe An province after Tet and throughout 2023, the demand is still greater than the supply. The problem is whether workers are determined to stay in the locality to work or not.

Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan - Director of Nghe An Employment Service Center.

-Over the past years, the Provincial Employment Service Center has organized many sessions of job consultation and introduction. So what is the unit's plan for 2023? After many years of doing this work, do you have any concerns about the job market in Nghe An when it is clear that there are still unreasonable problems between supply and demand?

Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan:With the trend of increasingly deep cooperation and division of labor, and the process of organizing job transactions: Fairs, Festivals, Mobile and Fixed Job Transaction Sessions... we realize the need to continue to promote labor market information activities, improve the frequency and quality of operations of Nghe An Job Exchange, and at the same time, continue to implement the "Timely - Accurate" Unemployment Insurance regime to contribute to the implementation and good implementation of labor - employment policies in 2023.

Job fair and vocational training consultation for workers in Tuong Duong district. Photo: My Ha

Regarding the job market in Nghe An in 2023, I personally see that the current market development is increasingly adaptive and flexible, the segmentation is changing quite positively, the employment in industrial parks and urban areas is increasing, and more economic and technical positions and workplaces are recruited. However, there is a very important issue, which is that the capacity and adaptability of workers need to continue to be improved.

On the part of employers, it is necessary to pay more attention to wages, income and benefits for workers, especially focusing on vocational training for workers before, during and after entering the market, organizing appropriate solutions to stream students, aiming to develop high-quality human resources and a structure suitable to the needs of the economy, then the ability to match labor supply and demand will be better, and jobs will then be truly sustainable.

- Employment is always the issue that worries most workers. So now, with the domestic and foreign labor market, what support and priority policies will workers receive through the Provincial Employment Service Center? According to you, what do workers need to do to find reliable and effective job referral addresses?

Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan:Currently, if workers come to the Center, they will be consulted and introduced to jobs in direct and online forms, through websites such as: Web, Facebook, Zalo... providing many domestic and foreign job positions; every Monday, the Center organizes direct and online job transactions to serve workers and employers; if the worker has participated in Unemployment Insurance, the Unemployment Insurance regime will be resolved.

The Employment Service Center is the only unit in Nghe An province assigned by the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to implement the EPS - Korea E9 Program. If workers participate in this program, are selected by Korean employers, and sign a labor contract, they only have to invest a small amount of money but the salary and income are quite high.

In 2022, after nearly 2 years of interruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 900 workers from Nghe An were able to follow this path.

Vocational training and job counseling for soldiers preparing to be discharged. Photo: My Ha

With its role and responsibility, in the past time, the Center has done quite well in serving the State management of labor and employment work. In 2022, it has implemented quite well the information and job connection activities.

However, to affirm that we are a reliable and effective job referral address for workers, we determine that the main goal is still to improve the quality and effectiveness of consulting; promote information activities, job transactions, effectively carry out digital transformation to enhance the connection between labor supply and demand on digital platforms, and focus on effectively implementing the Unemployment Insurance regime.

-Thank you for taking the time to chat!.

My Ha (Implementation)