Unskilled workers looking for work only account for 0.87%
Present at the Ho Chi Minh City Employment Service Center on an early day of 2025, Ms. Van Anh (in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) said that she used to work at a textile and garment company. However, the company reduced its workforce due to difficulties with orders, so she had to quit her job.
After looking at the recruitment conditions of some businesses, she found that the places where she could work had low salaries of only 6-7 million VND, while some businesses had higher salaries, from more than 10 million VND/month, but had requirements for qualifications that she could not meet.
“It’s the beginning of the solar year, but it’s the end of the lunar year, near Tet so it’s difficult to find a job. I will apply for unemployment benefits first to get money to spend on living expenses, and then consider it after Tet,” said Ms. Van Anh.
Ms. Van Anh is just a typical example of difficulty in finding a job due to not meeting recruitment needs.
Ms. Nguyen Hoang Hieu - Director of the Center for Human Resources Demand Forecasting and Labor Market Information of Ho Chi Minh City - said that through a survey of more than 165,000 workers looking for jobs in 2024, it showed that the demand for jobs for unskilled workers was 1,438 people, accounting for 0.87%, while the demand for jobs for trained workers was nearly 164,000 people, accounting for 99.13%.
Workers need to voluntarily improve their skills and knowledge.
According to Ms. Nguyen Hoang Hieu, Ho Chi Minh City has set a goal of developing the socio-economy and labor market towards modernity, sustainability and international integration, based on the foundation of digital transformation and green growth.
With the vision of becoming a smart city, Ho Chi Minh City focuses on applying digital technology and population data to optimize management, improve production and business efficiency, and improve people's lives.
At the same time, the development of digital economy, sharing economy, and circular economy is considered a driving force for growth, creating more job opportunities in high value-added sectors such as high-end services and modern technology.
In addition, Ho Chi Minh City is constantly implementing strategies and programs to build a dynamic labor market, meeting the needs of key economic sectors and adapting to new trends.
Policies to support businesses and workers, along with implementing the green growth strategy, not only create conditions for sustainable development but also ensure social security and improve people's quality of life.
Ms. Hieu also forecasted that by 2025, Ho Chi Minh City will need about 310,000 - 330,000 jobs, of which the demand for trained human resources accounts for 88.11%, the demand for primary level human resources accounts for 34.61%, intermediate level accounts for 20.14%, college level accounts for 14.6%, university level or higher accounts for 18.76%, and unskilled labor accounts for 11.89%.
“In the context of rapidly developing technology and increasingly widespread digital transformation trends, the labor market is also facing many major changes in working forms, recruitment needs, and skill requirements.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is developing the labor market in a new direction, requiring human resources to be trained in depth and updated regularly to meet new requirements.
Workers need to be proactive, improve their skills and knowledge, and prepare for change to adapt to labor market trends," said Ms. Hieu.
