VietNamNet Bridge – Low wages and high
goods prices have prompted workers to quit their jobs to seek better jobs which
can bring the income high enough to cover the increased expenses.

The topic,
which caught the special attention at the conference of key leaders of the
Vietnam Railway Corporation held recently, was that more and more workers in
the industry have resigned from their works.

According
to Pham Duc Thuan, an official of the Vietnam Railways Trade Union, the number
of workers is less than 42,000, which represents a decrease of 2000 workers in
comparison with 2008.

The key
leaders pointed out that the wages workers can receive monthly remain too low,
while everything is getting more and more expensive. As a result, the incomes
of workers do not allow them to cover basic expenses, thus forcing them to seek
better jobs to survive.

The problem
is, according to labor exports, that the problem does not only exist in the
railway industry.

Unlike the
crisis period, when manufacturers laid off workers to cut down expenses,
workers now decide to resign their jobs.

Since the
beginning of 2011, since the prices have been increasing, wages cannot cover
daily basic needs, a lot of workers at factories and enterprises have
unilaterally terminated the labor contracts to look for other jobs which can
bring higher incomes. Many of them have become freelancers.

According
to the HCM City Management Board of Industrial Zones and Export Processing
Zones (Hepza), in the first five months of 2011 alone, up to 30,000 workers
have left their jobs, causing big difficulties to enterprises in the zones. The
enterprises cannot fulfill their production plans because of the lack of
laborers. They have to hurry to recruit new workers, but have to spend time to
train new workers.

Nguyen Tan
Dinh, Deputy Head of Hepza, pointed out that the low income of laborers in
industrial zones is the main reason behind the unstable workforce of
enterprises.

Hua Thi
Thanh, a worker of a joint venture which makes electronic accessories and
cables at the Thang Long Industrial Zone, said that in the current
circumstances, when goods are getting more and more expensive, workers would
consider leaving for other jobs, even if the new jobs can bring the incomes
just several hundreds of thousands dong higher.

According
to Thanh, with the average income of less than 2 million dong a month, a lot of
workers, who live in the same boarding house area, have decided to stop working
for factories and leave for the home villages.

Thanh added
that she is considering applying for the job at Panasonic’s factory, after she
read a notice that the company now needs workers and offers the monthly income
which is 300,000 dong higher than her current income.

Nguyen Tien
Dung, a worker, said that he has resigned his job at Yamaha, adding that since
the beginning of 2011, many workers have also quit the job there.

Low income
was the main reason behind their decision. In general, a worker who specializes
in assembling accessories at the enterprise got 1.650,000-2 million dong a
month, an income too low for them to cover their basic expenses.

The short
supply of cars recently has been explained by the difficulties in importing car
parts. However, Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam has quoted its sources as
saying that some automobile manufacturers do not have enough products to sell
partially because they are lacking workers.

“In the
world economic crisis which took place in 2008-2009, when a lot of well- known
automobile and motorbike manufacturers had to cut down production and lay off
workers. However, things are quite different now. Workers at enterprises now
willingly want to resign their jobs because of the too low wages, which cannot
feed them in the price storm period,” a source said.

Source: TBKTVN