HCM City(VNA) – Many garment-textile companies in Ho Chi Minh City are recruiting moreemployees to expand operations after the Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays. According to Tran CongKhanh, Head of the Labourer Management Office of the Ho Chi Minh City ExportProcessing and Industrial Zone Authority (HEPZA), HEPZA now has 290,000 workers,of whom 95 percent have returned to work after the Tet holidays. The resteither took a further leave or changed their jobs. According to the Centrefor Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labour Market Information (FALMI)in Ho Chi Minh City, the city saw a shortage of 30,000 workers after the Tetholidays, mostly in the fields of real estate, IT, electricity-electronics,construction, garment-textiles and footwear, logistics, export and import,human resource management. FALMI Deputy Director TranTuan Anh highlighted the stability of the workforce in local firms after the Tetfestival, saying that most of labourers want to have stable jobs whilecompanies better take care of their employees. Though most ofenterprises have adequate labourers, those operating in the fields ofgarment-textiles, processing and services-restaurants are forecast to see ashortage of 8-10 percent of employees because of their production expansionafter the traditional holidays. Many local garment companies are in need of ahuge volume of workers. Dinh Thi Tuat, a representativeof a jeans factory under Phong Phu International JSC in HCM City’s district 9,said her factory needs as many workers as possible. The Phong Phu InternationalJSC resumed its production on February 22 (the seventh day of the first lunarmonth). A number of workers from neighbouring provinces have yet returned towork. Some dozens of workers usuallychange their jobs after the traditional Tet holidays, Tuat said, explainingthat, the huge recruitment mostly aims to serve its production expansion forexport. Uyen Linh Production CommerceCo. Ltd. in district 9 is also in need of between 100-300 garment workers. It paysbetween 6-8 million VND (265-350 USD) per month, and other benefits. According to the HCM City Associationof Garment and Textile (AGTEK), garment-textile firms have had enough purchaseorders for the first quarter, even some for the second quarter right from thefirst days of 2018. AGTEK President PhamXuan Hong said the sector hopes to grow 10 percent in 2018. Vietnam’s keyexport markets such as the US, EU and Japan have stable demand, while newmarkets also see positive signs.

Hong underlinedpotential for firms in the sector, saying that big ones have entered bigmarkets, while small ones eye niche markets with small volume, yet high prices.
Most of employersconsider experience and skills of their canꦜdidates and advan🍌tages to fulfilltheir purchase orders and expand their markets.-VNA