After Tet, "waiting" for people

Working "backwards" to the countryside

In previous years, after the Lunar New Year, the image of workers “snaking” to Highway 1 to catch a bus to the South to work was quite common in Nghe An province and often lasted until the end of January. However, in the past year, there are still workers going to the South but not many, mainly those who have worked for many years, have families and have stable long-term jobs.

There are many reasons why Nghe An workers choose their hometown to start a business instead of working in the southern provinces as before. Ms. Ha Thi Dien (Thanh Lam commune, Thanh Chuong district) is also one of them. Three years ago, after graduating from the Office Administration major at Nghe An Pedagogical College, she decided to go to Binh Duong to find a job. Here, she was accepted to work as an office worker at Esin Vina Binh Duong Company Limited with an average income of nearly 7 million VND/month. With this salary, she said that if she was "frugal", she could still save about 3 million VND per month because the cost of living in the southern provinces is not high. However, at present, after getting married in Nghia Dan district, this Tet she decided to quit her job and look for opportunities in her hometown. Talking about her current plan, Ms. Dien said: I have applied to TH Company for an office position. Although the salary in my hometown may be lower than before, in return I am close to home and do not have to travel back and forth.

Job counseling for unemployed workers. Photo: My Ha

About 80% of the workers who came to complete procedures to receive unemployment benefits at the Nghe An Provincial Employment Service Center on this occasion were workers from the southern provinces. According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga, in charge of the one-stop department of the Nghe An Employment Service Center: This trend has increased in the past 2 years. The reason is that currently, not only businesses in the North but also businesses in the province have a great need to recruit workers. Therefore, only those who have actually lived in the South for many years will stay there for a long time. The remaining subjects are single, especially female workers, who all want to work in their hometown.

According to the summary, in the first four days after the 2018 Tet holiday, about 800 workers came to apply for unemployment benefits or report their employment status. This number, compared to other times of the previous year, only accounted for about 50%, but on the contrary, the number of unemployed workers coming to find job opportunities was quite high.

Mr. Pham Ngoc Quyen has 12 years of experience in the business field at Tan My Company Limited (Vinh City) with an average salary of about 10 million VND/month. Although his income is not small, after Tet he still decided to quit his job to look for other opportunities. Talking about the reason, he shared: Currently, there are many job opportunities. I myself have many years of experience in the marketing field, so I am not worried. My wish is to find a job with a stable salary, good benefits and many development opportunities.

Businesses "waiting" for workers

According to statistics from Nghe An Employment Service Center, in the first two months of 2018 alone, 124 businesses registered their labor recruitment needs in our province with nearly 90,000 job needs. Of these, 82,000 needs came from businesses outside the province (with 75,000 regular recruitment needs) and 6,000 recruitment needs within the province.

Due to the huge demand for labor, right in the first job fair of the year, many businesses went directly to the job fair to recruit workers. In addition, taking advantage of the days when workers returned home for Tet, from the 7th day of the lunar calendar, the center also organized a labor recruitment festival in the districts of Quynh Luu, Yen Thanh, Tan Ky, Anh Son, Con Cuong, Quy Hop, Quy Chau... with the participation of many large businesses and corporations from the northern provinces such as Sumidenso Vietnam Co., Ltd., Brother Vietnam International Group...

Workers learn about jobs in 2018. Photo: My Ha

However, the reality also shows that, although the recruitment demand is very large, the number of workers directly attending the job fair at the beginning of the year has not met expectations. For example, with Vinh Giao Te Hotel, in early March, the unit opened a new restaurant and needed about 30 workers for positions such as lighting staff, IT staff, chefs, and waiters. However, after nearly 2 weeks of announcing recruitment at the unit and nearly a morning of participating in the fair, only a few workers came to apply.

Although only about 10 workers are needed, due to the job requirements, the Deputy Director of Mavin AustFeed Company Limited personally came to the floor to interview the workers. After nearly a morning of work, Mr. Tran Minh Duc - Deputy Director of Sales of the company said: Of the 4 applications, 3 have university degrees and 1 has intermediate degrees. Currently, we have two applications that will continue to be considered, but I appreciate the application of a worker with only an intermediate degree more, because I see that this is an experienced person, has a desire to stay long-term and is willing to share the difficulties of the business.

Regarding the quality of labor, he also added: This year, we only need technical workers but there are quite a few applications from university graduates. However, this is not the top priority. Many workers think that if they have a high degree, their salary must be commensurate. Meanwhile, the first requirement for recruitment is skills, responsibility for work and work ethic. Salary payment will also be based on actual labor efficiency and productivity.

Thanh Thanh Dat Company Limited also has 2/3 excellent profiles for the accounting position. However, the company representative also admitted: Degree is only one criterion for priority. In addition to the interview on the floor, we will have an additional skill test to select those with real ability.

Supply and demand "out of phase"

Reality shows that in recent times, Nghe An labor market still has many gaps between supply and demand. For example, in 2017, although there were 49 job transactions (fixed and mobile) with more than 11,000 participants, only about 2,300 workers were recruited.

Commenting on the employment trends in 2018, Mr. Ho Van Hung - Director of Nghe An Employment Service Center said: Currently, the demand for jobs is very high, so workers have many opportunities to find jobs. Therefore, to recruit effectively, there must be a common voice between workers and businesses.

In particular, workers must have skills, qualifications, and good discipline. In return, businesses also need to pay attention to salary and bonus policies, properly implement social insurance policies and other benefits, especially food and accommodation for workers.