Employers expect hiring to increase in H2

The study found that 61 per cent of the surveyed businesses plan to increase their headcounts, while 27 per cent will maintain their workforce.

Manufacturing and processing to account for the strongest recruitment

Manufacturing and processing toped the industries planning to increase recruitment within the next six months with 19 per cent, followed by wholesale, retail, and trading (12.7 per cent), professional consulting services (9.5 per cent), banking and finance (9.5 per cent), construction (6.4 per cent), food and beverage, hospitality, and leisure (6.4 per cent), and real estate (6.4 per cent).

Vietnam's hiring intentions for H2/2022

The most in-demand job levels include executive and junior levels (49 per cent). The runners-up are blue-collar workers (24 per cent), senior management (18 per cent), C-suite (5 per cent), and fresh graduates without experience (4 per cent).

The survey also reveals that over 70 per cent of the surveyed companies have recovered from the pandemic with 50 per cent or more actively recovered and only about 12 per cent saying that their business operations remain significantly affected.

Experts said that the positive economic outlook gives employers in Vietnam confidence to increase recruitment in the second half of 2022, though not as significantly as over the last six months. In total, 88 per cent of the surveyed enterprises plan to increase or at least maintain their current headcounts as compared to 95 per cent for the equivalent index in the first half of 2022.

Over the past months, the government's timely and practical support policies have enabled businesses in Vietnam to flexibly and proactively adapt to the new normal and maintain a strong recovery momentum post-pandemic.

Top industries planning to increase recruitment within the next six months

In June, the World Bank reported in their Economic Update for Vietnam that the country may reach a 5.8 per cent growth rate in 2022, higher than the figures for some other Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Nguyen Xuan Son, country operations manager for staffing and outsourcing services at ManpowerGroup Vietnam said, “From our perspective, the current Vietnamese labour market is bustling, especially in mass recruitment and blue-collar worker hiring. The supply chain and logistics industry continues its remarkable growth as it plays a key role in the circulation and transportation of goods and production materials.”

Regarding the demand for blue-collar workers, he added that the need for production workers in certain industries such as manufacturing, healthcare and pharmaceutical, and consumer goods is high. The sectors with high employee turnover currently are telesales and customer services in finance, insurance, and e-commerce.

Fields with recruitment challenges

The survey found that businesses in various fields are facing recruitment difficulties with up to 57 per cent of the surveyed employers having experienced difficulty hiring staff.

Foreign language skills are becoming an indispensable requirement for workers. Up to 24 per cent of the respondents revealed that the percentage of their employees with English proficiency is quite low. Particularly, 30 per cent of the surveyed companies revealed that fewer than 10 per cent of their employees have the necessary English skills to work.

Contingent workers are becoming an important human resource strategy as a global employment trend. Up to 45 per cent of surveyed employers said that they intend to use seasonal or part-time workers over the next three to six months.

Nguyen Thu Trang, country sales manager at ManpowerGroup Vietnam said, “The current demand for recruitment in industrial parks is vibrant, especially in manufacturing and processing and electronics and technology. Many employers said that they could not recruit the desired number of workers despite increasing their benefits packages. Alongside permanent recruitment services, businesses are increasingly using outsourcing services to supplement their current labour force during peak seasons.”

To deal with the obstacles, 22 per cent of surveyed employers opted to use executive search and permanent recruitment as an HR solution, while 16 per cent of the companies planned to use staffing and outsourcing services to replenish their workforce.

Vietnam's recruitment demand bounces back Vietnam has seen the recovery of rising recruitment demand across various industries despite labour shortages in some specific fields and positions.

IT industry holds huge recruitment demand: report The demand for IT personnel continues to soar given a rising recruitment need seen across many sectors serving post-pandemic business recovery and growth, according to a report on the Vietnamese labour market in the 2nd quarter by the payroll, recruitment & outsourcing agency Andeco Vietnam.

Tourism sector lacks workforce after COVID-19 It is becoming difficult to ensure the quantity and quality of workforce for the tourism sector after the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector needs an influx of quality staff to meet the needs of the rising tourism industry.

Intensive industries eager to narrow recruitment gaps Although the labour market in the second quarter has shown more signs of recovery than in the first, the trend of job-hopping and freelancing of a large number of workers since the pandemic has caused many businesses to continue their personnel search.