370,000 workers will not return to HCMC: survey

Of them, 140,000 have decided not to return and 230,000 do not have any plans yet, a study by the University of Economics HCMC found.

From the fourth quarter last year to the third quarter this year, around 1.3 million people left the city.

Of them, 377,000 plan to return in the fourth quarter, while 520,000 want to return after Tet in early February, the survey found.

The factors determining their return to the city are working conditions and income, living conditions, children’s education, and community.

Their main concerns are inconsistent Covid safety regulations, travel from their hometown and compliance with pandemic regulations.

The survey forecast HCMC would continue to see its labor pool shrink in the upcoming months and unemployment is set to rise.

The keys to attracting workers back are rent support and vaccination, it proposed.

Data from the city Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs shows the city has over 4.7 million workers in the formal sector.

Some 545,000 workers had to stop working due to the fourth Covid-19 wave, it said.

Though the labor market has become vibrant again since early October, the shortage of workers has had a considerable impact on economic recovery, Nguyen Van Lam, deputy director of the department, said.