Abundant labor supply
Losing her job in October 2025, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan (from Nho Quan commune, Ninh Binh) did not look for a fixed job immediately but decided to find a seasonal job near Tet.
According to Ms. Lan, at the end of the year, businesses do not recruit many, but mainly hire seasonal workers. Not to mention, there are many other hourly jobs that can bring high income such as cleaning houses by the hour, taking care of sick people... Ms. Lan decided to post information looking for part-time jobs, freelance jobs to have more choices.
According to the Hanoi Employment Service Center, during the Tet holiday, at the online recruitment platform, the number of workers looking for jobs has increased significantly since the beginning of December. This force is mainly general laborers, students, freelancers, workers who have had their working hours reduced or lost their jobs during the year.
In the context of many economic difficulties, many manufacturing, construction, garment... enterprises cut orders, let workers quit early or work extensions. The income gap makes many people actively look for seasonal jobs to compensate for year-end spending, creating a large supply for the service market. In addition, students from universities and colleges also joined earlier. Instead of waiting for Tet holidays to go to work part-time, many students accept working throughout the last month of the year to have more income, living expenses and money to go home.
Mr. Vu Quang Thanh - Deputy Director of Hanoi Employment Service Center - said that in the period 2021-2023, many service businesses faced a "thirst" for labor during Tet, having to increase salaries and bonuses to retain people, but this year the picture has reversed. Many units said that just posting recruitment in a short time will have enough application documents.
The easiest positions to recruit include Tet sales, warehouse staff, delivery staff, restaurant servers, supermarkets, convenience stores. Notably, many workers accept long shifts, working throughout Tet with remuneration not much higher than usual days. Large supply helps businesses be more proactive in personnel selection, while reducing the pressure to "push up" wages like in previous years. For positions that do not require high skills, the common seasonal salary is only slightly higher than the regional minimum wage or slightly increased by 10–20% compared to normal days," Mr. Vu Quang Thanh informed.
Cheap price" does not mean abundant labor
Mr. Nguyen Duc Nam (Chuong My ward, Hanoi) is a worker at a mechanical company in Ha Dong ward, lost his job in December 2025. Knowing that it was difficult to find work near Tet, Mr. Nam decided to return to his hometown to ask acquaintances who are construction contractors to introduce him to work. Immediately after that, Mr. Nam had continuous work at construction sites around the house. Although his income was not as good as his old job, according to Mr. Nam, "it was also good when Tet was approaching".
Ms. Bui Ngoc Anh - Human Resources Director of Utilities Company, a unit specializing in labor supply (Phuong Liet ward, Hanoi) - said that "soft-priced" general personnel and services during Tet clearly reflect the pressure to make a living for workers. In the context of increasing living costs and unstable main income, many people are forced to accept lower-than-expected salaries to get jobs.
For unskilled workers, having a job during Tet is more important than negotiating income. Some workers said they are willing to work hard, on night shifts, even throughout Tet if they are guaranteed to be paid on time and no risks arise.
According to Ms. Ngoc Anh, overall, the labor service market near Tet this year has a "easy to recruit - soft price" color, but behind that is great pressure on workers. The abundant supply does not stem from the surplus of jobs, but from the need to earn extra income in the context that formal employment is not really sustainable.
In the long term, the problem is not in increasing or decreasing seasonal wages, but in the ability to create stable jobs, improve skills for workers so that they do not have to depend too much on short-term, precarious jobs every year-end. Tet is still the "golden season" of the service industry, but it is also a clear reflection of the fluctuations of the labor market. When businesses are easier to recruit, labor costs are lower, which is both a business opportunity and a reminder of the real "health" of the labor force," Ms. Ngoc Anh said.
