Foreign-direct invested (FDI) and domestic enterprises in industrial parks and
export processing zones will need a total of 100,000 workers to meet demand for
existing and newly established enterprises from now until 2015, according to the
HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA).

Workers of Meko Garment Joint Stock Co in Can Tho. HCM City businesses are competing with those in neighbouring provinces for skilled workers. (Photo: VNS)

Half of
the total recruitment would be for new projects to cover 500 ha of land in IPs
and EPZs during the 2011-15 period, said Nguyen Tan Dinh, deputy head of HEPZA.

Electricity, electronics, mechanics, information technology and medical
chemistry would attract most of workers in the next five years, Dinh said at a
meeting on human resource development in IPs and EPZs, co-organised by HEPZA and
the HCM City National University.

Female
workers would account for 60 per cent of the total, Dinh said.

The
demand for skilled workers is forecast to be 38,000, accounting for 38 per cent
of the total demand in the next five years.

The
number of new graduates from universities, colleges and vocational schools are
sufficient to meet the demand of skilled workers in IPs and EPZs in the city,
with around 100,000 graduates from universities and colleges and 50,000
graduates from vocational schools every year.

However,
enterprises in neighbouring provinces such as Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Ba
Ria-Vung Tau are competing with those in HCM City to attract skilled workers.

Tan
Thuan Export Processing Zone, for example, failed to recruit 200 skilled workers
in mechanics, as expected early this year, with applications accounting for only
60 per cent of recruitment target.

Most
enterprises have to provide workers with short-term training courses to ensure
that they are qualified for the jobs.

The
Renesas Design Viet Nam Co Ltd in Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone employed
workers with at least university degrees, with a total of 600 workers, said Ho
Thi Ngoc Ha, human resources manager of the company.

The
company offered courses to newly recruited workers who lacked skills in working,
foreign languages and practical knowledge after university graduation.

It also
worked closely with universities in the city to help lecturers and students
access advanced technology and equipment as well as knowledge.

Foreign
enterprises send more than 6,000 workers to parent companies abroad for training
courses up to one year in order to reduce the number of foreign specialists in
the companies in Viet Nam.

Japan
receives most of the Vietnamese workers sent for training, with 4,000 workers,
followed by South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and mainland China.

Enterprises and schools should work together so that both sides would benefit,
said Phan Huu Tan Duc, director of the vocational centre under Nguyen Tat Thanh
University.

Students, for example, could have the opportunity to use modern equipment and
advanced technology at companies, while companies would not need to train
workers after they were recruited.

In
addition, HEPZA should ask enterprises to provide plans on human resources so
that vocational training schools can satisfy company demand.

In HCM
City, more than 252,500 workers are employed by 1,044 FDI and domestic
enterprises at 13 IPs and EPZs.

Intensive labour industries like textiles and
garment, footwear and electronics enterprises attract 64.6 per cent.

Manual
workers account for more than 83 per cent, and workers with vocational training,
8.9 per cent.

Only 6.7
per cent of workers are graduates from colleges and universities.

Migrant
workers account for 70 per cent of the total workforce at IPs and EPZs.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News