Labor shortage still stalks industry

Employees of a garment firm in the southern province of Long An work. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Companies still have difficulty finding workers, especially skilled ones, a problem that began months ago when thousands returned to their hometowns to escape Covid-19, a survey has found.

According to VN Express, firms facing labor shortages, nearly a third of the respondents, said it is not easy for migrant workers to travel back from their hometown to factories, partly because of health declaration and Covid testing requirements, showed the survey conducted by the Private Economic Development Research Board (IV Board) and VnExpress among 3,440 companies with 8,835 employees in October.

Over 25 percent said authorities in some places still use the "Zero Covid" approach.

Many are also facing other difficulties: Some 56 percent said input material prices are too high, 43 percent said demand is low and 41 percent said Covid testing costs are unaffordable.

Some 22 percent said they have resumed full operations, while 45 percent said if localities cope with the pandemic flexibly and effectively, they would recover in the next one to six months.

Another 39 percent said their operations doubled or more over August.

To help enterprises recover quickly, the board said healthcare agencies need to provide specific guidelines on handling Covid-19 infections at the workplace such as not quarantining the entire place.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs is considering increasing the monthly overtime limit of 40 hours for workers to help companies revive production.

Companies have also called on the government to bring down the prices of certain products such as iron and steel, resume international flights and offer big, large packages in early 2022.

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