Workers at a textile and garment factory in HCM City. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vũ

HCM CITY — As the economy rebounds and production ramps up, many businesses are witnessing a significant labour shortage that could hamper their growth.

Despite ongoing efforts, many manufacturing businesses in HCM City and across the southern economic zone report that they are struggling to meet demand for workers, especially for lower-skilled positions.

Several companies in export processing zones and industrial parks say that the situation has persisted since the beginning of the year, affecting their production schedules and expansion plans.

Some factories have had to increase shifts, adopt flexible working hours or hire outsourced labour to meet the demand.

Lê Văn Hưng, an HR director for a garment business at Tân Tạo Industrial Park in HCM City, said that the company’s plan to expand its sixth production line was put on hold due to staffing issues.

“We needed to hire 500 workers by the end of March to operate the new line and fulfil orders, but we have only managed to recruit a little over half," said Hưng.

About 10 per cent of new hires had dropped out for various reasons, he added.

According to a recent report on the 2025 labour market published by HCM City Institute for Development Studies (HIDS), the city needed to recruit 160,680 workers in the first half of 2025.

The commerce-services sector continued to be a highlight, accounting for nearly 70 per cent of demand with 111,175 positions. The industrial-construction sector made up over 30 per cent with 49,152 workers, while agriculture, forestry and fisheries sat at only about 0.22 per cent.

The HIDS report forecasts that HCM City will see demand ranging between 151,282 and 159,040 new jobs in the second half of the year.

Recruitment will remain concentrated in key industrial sectors such as mechanical engineering, electronics, plastics, food processing and core service industries like finance, logistics, commerce and hospitality.

These figures reflect the city’s economic recovery and expansion, but also underscore the growing challenge of labour supply, especially as the southern region develops a new, larger space for industries following administrative restructuring.

This expansion of economic space sharply increases hiring demand, yet also worsens labour shortages at large manufacturing firms.

Despite abundant job openings, many workers are reluctant to return to factories. A growing number are opting for flexible hours in ride-hailing or online sales services rather than fixed-shift positions on a production line.

Meanwhile, younger workers are found to be increasingly mobile and tend to migrate to areas offering higher wages.

Trần Anh Tuấn, vice president of the HCMC Vocational Education Association, noted that the reason lay in the shift in attitudes and expectations among younger workers, apart from outdated recruitment methods.

Many companies still relied on traditional approaches such as posting announcements, handing out flyers or advertising on general platforms, he said, but young workers today were searching for jobs online or through peer referrals.

Commercial manager for recruitment platform Việc Làm Tốt Dương Việt Linh said the website attracted over 2.5 million visits per month.

The platform boasts a vast, high-quality candidate database across sectors including manufacturing, sales, customer service, logistics, driving, security and food service, which Linh said would allow businesses to quickly and efficiently connect with the right workers.

By leveraging technology advancements, businesses can conduct better candidate filtering, track hiring performance and, in the long term, plan strategies that align with market fluctuations. — VNS