Firms fail to meet export orders due to labour shortage

Enterprises in HCMC's export processing and industrial zones are struggling to complete increasing orders because they are short of workers.

Textile, footwear, electronic assembly and seafood processing establishments typically receive more orders towards the end of the year.

Nguyen Thanh Tung, director of the Job Opportunity Centre under the HCMC Export Processing Zones Authority (HEPZA), said enterprises needed 49,000 workers from now until the end of the year, but the centre can only meet 70 percent of this demand.

Around 300 enterprises in textile, footwear and electronic assembly are facing severe labour shortages. The Tan Thuan export processing zone alone needs 10,000 workers badly.

Besides non-skilled labour, enterprises are also having difficulties in finding suitable candidates for middle management positions, from commercial to production ones.

"The middle management force accounts for 10 percent of recruitment needs and despite the low level of scarcity; there is aggressive competition between enterprises," Tung said.

Tung said that to improve the situation that has been a constant headache for enterprises in recent years, Hepza will only accept new projects that deploy high technology, especially in mechanical, electrical and electronics.

Experts have said that enterprises need to effect changes in their salary policies, improve other working conditions and apply technological innovations.

The demand for labour is expected to rise with the city planning to build seven new IZs and expand existing IZs to cover an additional area of 3,000ha.

Furthermore, the city also faces stiff competition from neighbouring provinces which have also opened new IZs. HCMC now has three export processing zones and 10 industrial zones with 1,200 projects that employ 252,000 workers.

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Firms fail to meet export orders due to labour shortage

Enterprises in HCM City's export processing and industrial zones are struggling to complete increasing orders because they are short of workers.

Textile, footwear, electronic assembly and seafood processing establishments typically receive more orders towards the end of the year.   

Nguyen Thanh Tung, director of the Job Opportunity Centre under the HCM City Export Processing Zones Authority (HEPZA), said enterprises needed 49,000 workers from now until the end of the year, but the centre can only meet 70 percent of this demand.   

Around 300 enterprises in textile, footwear and electronic assembly are facing severe labour shortages. The Tan Thuan export processing zone alone needs 10,000 workers badly.   

Besides non-skilled labour, enterprises are also having difficulties in finding suitable candidates for middle management positions, from commercial to production ones.   

"The middle management force accounts for 10 percent of recruitment needs and despite the low level of scarcity; there is aggressive competition between enterprises," Tung said.   

Tung said that to improve the situation that has been a constant headache for enterprises in recent years, Hepza will only accept new projects that deploy high technology, especially in mechanical, electrical and electronics.   

Experts have said that enterprises need to effect changes in their salary policies, improve other working conditions and apply technological innovations.   

The demand for labour is expected to rise with the city planning to build seven new IZs and expand existing IZs to cover an additional area of 3,000ha.   

Furthermore, the city also faces stiff competition from neighbouring provinces which have also opened new IZs.   HCM   City   now has three export processing zones and 10 industrial zones with 1,200 projects that employ 252,000 workers./.

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• Vietnam footwear industry eyes runaway exports

VND16 bil. for automatic wastewater monitors

HCMC – The HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment has asked the city government for approval to spend some VND16 billion installing automatic industrial wastewater monitors in concentrated industrial zones.

Tran Nguyen Hien, head of the department’s Environment Management Office, said the facilities would help the department control the quality of industrial wastewater discharged from one high-tech park, three export processing zones and 10 industrial parks in the city.

Sensors will be placed at the outlet of the wastewater treatment facility of each park to record and transfer data about the discharged industrial wastewater, such as pH, DO, COD and TSS (total suspended solids) to a control center at the department 24 hours.

Based on the certified indexes, the environment authority will impose penalties on any industrial park that fails to meet the requirements for wastewater disposal.

The city’s industrial parks and export processing zones have nearly 1,000 operational enterprises that dispose of some 32,000 cubic meters of industrial wastewater a day.

The environment department is considering placing orders for automatic monitoring devices from the German firm WTW because these German devices are reportedly suitable for Vietnam’s existing telecommunications infrastructure.

Early this year, the environment department reported that in the next few years it would install automatic monitors at companies discharging much wastewater outside the industrial parks.

The budget for this wastewater monitoring scheme is VND100 billion.

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Industrial zone attracts more local investors

HA NOI — Domestic investment in the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zone (HEPZA) was twice that of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the first seven months of the year, reports the zone's management authority.

Domestic investors provided about US$235 million for 35 projects while their money for 19 existing projects added another $62 million.

FDI was about $136.3 million for 27 projects.

HEPZA Authority deputy director Nguyen Tan Phuoc explained: "The FDI decrease resulted from the global financial crisis and the authority's new investment policy which discourages labour-intensive projects that do not utilise technology."

But domestic enterprises had taken advantage of the opportunity to expand their investment and improve existing projects.

About $2.1billion has been injected into export processing and industrial zones during the past five years.

Of this, domestic investment has totalled $1.32 billion.

Licences have been granted or implemented for almost 1,200 projects in HCM City's export processing and industrial zones so far this year.

Domestic investors have financed 710 projects and FDI 447.

In the next five years, HCM City will bring into operation a further seven industrial zones to add to the existing 15 operational industrial parks and export processing zones, including Dong Nam, Phuoc Hiep and Bau Dung.

HEPZA Authority said that the most challenging factor in attracting FDI was external infrastructure, transport systems, limited land, rental prices and a shortage of electricity.

HCM City targets to reach FDI of $8.4 billion for 2010. — VNS

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