Workers lose their jobs, billion-dollar boarding house owner cries because of unsold rooms

Half of the rooms are unoccupied.

The land of Mrs. Hoac Thi Nguyet (in Quang Chau commune, Bac Giang) is quite close to factories and manufacturing enterprises in the industrial park located in the area. Understanding the need for accommodation of workers far from home, Mrs. Nguyet and her husband built a boarding house with 10 rooms a decade ago.

As the Quang Chau industrial park grew and attracted a large number of workers, Ms. Nguyet's family decided to "do big business", borrowing money from the bank to expand the scale 15 times. The 150 rooms of the 5-storey building were invested with a construction cost of up to 5 billion VND.

Ms. Nguyet said: "Before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were very few vacant rooms. Every time a worker moved out, another worker would come and rent the room right away."

Ms. Nguyet is worried because the dormitory has no workers to rent (photo: Que Chi).

At that time, after deducting expenses and bank interest payments, her family could save a few tens of millions of dong each month. The rental business was stable when the Covid-19 outbreak caused a lot of disruption.

"We are still heavily affected. Workers are only renting half of the rooms we have. There are still many empty rooms in the boarding house," said Ms. Nguyet.

Since the beginning of 2023, many businesses have been affected by a decrease in orders, stagnant production, and lack of work for workers. Many workers have had to move to areas with more work to make ends meet in a foreign land.

In recent days, Ms. Nguyet has been constantly checking the rooms before the workers return them. Many people cannot stay and have to clean up, move elsewhere to find work or return to their hometowns.

Ms. Nguyet's family invested billions of dong in building a motel (photo: Que Chi).

Her family often listens to recruitment needs of businesses. A large electronic components manufacturing company is recruiting for many positions, Mrs. Nguyet is secretly happy. However, the area where her boarding house is located is quite far away so not many people come to rent it.

In addition to hanging up the “for rent” sign, she also posted information about the house on many groups to attract more workers. That was the way for her to have more money to rent the house, cover her living expenses as well as “bear” the huge interest and bank debt.

Tens of thousands of workers have had their income reduced.

According to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Bac Giang province, by June, 87 enterprises in the province (accounting for 1.2% of the number of operating enterprises) had to cut or reduce their workforce, affecting the jobs and income of over 26,500 workers.

Of these, over 17,000 workers had to quit their jobs or have their contracts terminated; over 2,200 workers had to stop working or take unpaid leave; 862 workers had their labor contracts suspended and over 6,200 workers had their working hours reduced.

The number of workers losing their jobs and reducing their jobs is mainly in the textile, manufacturing and assembly of electronic components.

According to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Bac Giang, the reason for the above situation is that some enterprises operating in the fields of processing and assembling electronic components and textiles are lacking or have had their orders cut, so they have to reduce their workforce or let workers take turns off.

Textile and garment industry is the industry with the most serious decline in labor demand (Photo: Pham Nguyen).

Currently, the province has over 285,300 employees working in enterprises. In recent times, besides enterprises having to reduce their production scale, many enterprises in the province have also started operating and expanding production.

In the first 6 months of the year, businesses recruited over 25,000 workers. It is expected that in the last 6 months of the year, the locality will need to recruit about 60,000 workers.

In recent times, to support businesses and workers whose jobs have been affected, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Bac Giang province has regularly monitored, promptly informed, and reported on the situation of businesses that have had their orders cut, their workforce cut, their working hours cut, and their operations temporarily suspended.

From there, proactively coordinate with competent authorities to propose and implement solutions to support production and business for enterprises; conduct inspections and supervise enterprises' compliance with the law, labor use and payment of benefits according to the law for employees.

At the same time, the industry directed the provincial employment service center and 20 enterprises providing employment services in the area to regularly coordinate with businesses to support job search for workers and support businesses in recruiting enough workers according to production development needs.

Source link: https://dantri.com.vn/lao-dong-viec-lam/cong-nhan-mat-viec-chu-khu-tro-tien-ty-khoc-vi-e-phong-20230719122602889.htm