HCMC firms shift gears on recruitment drive

Japan-invested Toyo Precision Co. Ltd in District 7's Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, which specializes in manufacturing textile machine components, is recruiting around 50 new employees thanks to an 80 percent increase in new orders from its parent company in Japan.

Also in District 7, Taiwanese-firm CCH Top, a canvas cap maker, has added more than 100 workers since September to its 1,600 workforce after securing new orders to keep production going until March next year. Earlier, it had laid off nearly 300 workers because of Covid-19 impacts.

Taiwanese footwear maker Pouyuen Vietnam Co. Ltd., Ho Chi Minh City’s largest employer with over 60,000 employees, is hiring another 2,000, based on new orders.

Kim Vinh Cuong, vice chairman of the company, said they were hiring more workers because new orders had increased by 50 percent since September. Last June, the company had laid off 2,786 workers, citing a steep fall in orders.

The company's production has also picked up pace after over 200 Chinese experts entered Vietnam and resumed work after completing their mandatory quarantine, Cuong added.

According to a report from the Ho Chi Minh City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority, many enterprises have resumed production after the Covid-19 pandemic was brought under control and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) took effect on August 1.

HCMC has gone nearly three months without community transmission of the novel coronavirus.

Several large garment firms that had cut staff are looking to hire more than 3,000 workers to boost production. Many businesses in other fields have also started recruiting from 50-200 employees, Hepza said.

Hepza head Hua Quoc Hung said revenues of some large enterprises in HCMC have recovered 70 percent over the past two months after falling by over 50 percent in May and June.

Le Minh Tan, director of the municipal Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said it is estimated that in the last three months of the year, businesses in the city will recruit 62,000-65,000 employees in multiple sectors including transport, food, customer care, finance, banking and insurance.

"Better control of the Covid-19 pandemic and increased production for the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) season will contribute to reducing job losses", Tan said.

In the first nine months of the year, 31.8 million workers aged 15 or more had either lost their jobs or had their working hours reduced as a result of the pandemic.

During this period, Vietnam posted its lowest GDP growth since 2011 at 2.12 percent. The country had achieved a 7.02 percent growth last year, the second highest in a decade.