Prioritize development opportunities
After more than a year of working in marketing at a business in Can Tho, Ms. Nguyen Dan Thanh (26 years old, O Mon ward, Can Tho city) decided to move to Ho Chi Minh City to work.
According to Ms. Thanh, the decision to change jobs not only comes from income but also relates to stability, welfare regimes and especially career development opportunities.
Income in Can Tho can currently relatively meet the living standards here, but I need more preferential treatment regimes and more than that, promotion opportunities, a clear roadmap that the work I have been attached to for more than 1 year has not brought about," Ms. Thanh shared.
Similarly, Mr. Pham Duc Thien (23 years old, Thot Not ward), who just graduated from Information Technology, also chose to find a job at a technology company in Ho Chi Minh City.
According to Mr. Thien, when comparing job opportunities between the two localities, businesses in Ho Chi Minh City have advantages in terms of income, preferential treatment and policies for workers.
In the immediate future, my top priority is still income. However, in the long term, the career path is the decisive factor for whether I will stick with a job or not," Mr. Thien said.
The market needs high-quality human resources
According to the Can Tho City labor market analysis report for the first 6 months of 2026 and the forecast of human resource demand for the last 6 months of 2026 by the Can Tho City Employment Service Center, the city's labor market in the last 6 months of the year is forecast to continue to grow positively but is likely to still lack high-quality human resources.
The digital transformation process and the application of artificial intelligence will continue to strongly change the city's employment structure. The rapid development of artificial intelligence is creating new job opportunities but also increasing pressure on workers who are not able to adapt to the new requirements of the labor market.
Mr. Nguyen Quang Huy - Managing Director of the Faculty of Finance - Banking (Nguyen Trai University) - said that the problem of young workers in Can Tho should not only be viewed from the perspective of labor shortage or young people "craving jobs", but should be seen as a change in job expectation in the process of economic restructuring.
According to Mr. Huy, Can Tho's human resource demand is shifting strongly to fields such as logistics, technology, automation, digital transformation and modern services. This shift also entails changes in the job choice criteria of young people.
Young people today not only compare salaries, but also compare the total value of a job, including actual income, benefits, time, travel costs, housing, working environment, learning ability and career advancement opportunities," Mr. Huy analyzed.
According to experts, flexible job areas have advantages in proactiveness, while large industrial centers have advantages in income and career opportunities. Therefore, manufacturing enterprises will find it difficult to compete if they mainly rely on the advantage of low-cost labor, instead of improving productivity and job quality.
The strategy should not be to attract labor at low labor costs, but to build a competitive advantage in productivity and quality of life," Mr. Huy emphasized.
