After the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic recession, the Vietnamese garment and footwear industry in general and Thanh Hoa in particular lost many markets, many businesses went bankrupt or had to slow down production. By 2024, these two most labor-intensive manufacturing industries are gradually recovering, so the labor force for development has become a "hot" issue again.
In the first 6 months of 2024, Sakurai Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Thanh Hoa City) recruited 1,267 more workers to expand production. Photo: Le Dong
Many signs of recovery
In Cong Liem commune (Nong Cong), Truong Phat Production, Service and Trading Company Limited still maintains more than 300 workers. Recently, the company has had to organize overtime for employees to ensure orders. In 2024, the company has had more contracts and orders to export clothing to the Russian market, so employees have enough working hours and increased income. The company is also building a new factory to expand its scale, increasing production capacity to 5 million products per year, and is expected to recruit about 1,000 more workers in the near future.
Two large Japanese footwear and garment enterprises headquartered in Le Mon Industrial Park (Thanh Hoa City) are recruiting more workers to restore and expand production. Of which, Sakurai VN Co., Ltd. (garment sector) has recruited 1,267 more workers; SunJade Vietnam Shoes Co., Ltd. (leather shoe production) has recruited 874 more workers in the first 6 months of the year.
A representative of Sakurai VN Co., Ltd. said: “The company’s old factory in Le Mon Industrial Park has 12,000 workers, which is basically stable, occasionally recruiting about 5% more due to frequent labor fluctuations. With the recovery of the garment industry, the company has just built a new factory in Bac Hoang Hoa Industrial Park with 2 production lines, of which production line 1 has recruited enough 500 workers, production line 2 is recruiting 500 more workers from now until the end of the year.”
Not only with the operating enterprises, in recent months Thanh Hoa has licensed and recorded many new garment enterprises under construction. A typical example is the Nam Ich Thai Thang Textile Factory Project which is being urgently built at Thai Thang Industrial Park (Hoang Hoa). This is a large garment project of South Asia Knitwer Limited, a member of Nam Ich Group (Hong Kong) as the investor with a total investment of 1,090 billion VND. The main purpose is to produce high-quality woolen and garment products to serve the Vietnamese market and export, the factory system consists of 2 main areas: a weaving factory of over 33,000m2 and a garment factory of over 22,000m2 with auxiliary works being piled and framed. According to the investor's plan, by January 2025, modern production lines will be put into operation, creating stable jobs for over 5,000 workers.
Recently, there have been many positive signs, the traditional markets of Thanh Hoa's footwear and textiles, such as European countries and the United States, have gradually shifted to Russia, the Asian region - especially the Middle East and some new markets in the world. From proactive changes and signs of recovery, in 2023, Thanh Hoa textile and garment enterprises alone produced more than 508 million products. At the end of 2023 and the first months of 2024, many new orders were signed, which is the basis for Thanh Hoa's garment industry to strive to produce 530 million products. Currently, many enterprises continue to diversify products, increase experience exchange as well as promote cooperation to get more contracts.
Continuous recruitment
In late July and early August 2024, SAB Vietnam Industrial Co., Ltd. (Bim Son Industrial Park, Bim Son Town) continued to post recruitment information for 30 more female workers. This garment accessories manufacturing enterprise offered a fairly high income of 7 to 9 million VND per month. After completing the application and interview, as long as the candidate is not nearsighted, they will be assigned to work immediately.
This recruitment has become a “periodic” activity for this FDI enterprise because over the years the company has had to continuously supplement the shortage and fluctuations of employees. It is known that in the first 6 months of the year, the company recruited 44 more workers to supplement the production process. With new orders and market development, in the last months of the year, the company plans to recruit 230 more workers.
According to the Management Board of Nghi Son Economic Zone and Industrial Parks (KKTNS & CKCN) of Thanh Hoa province, in the first 6 months of the year, most enterprises operating in the field of leather shoes and garments in the area managed by the unit have recruited more workers. At Bim Son Industrial Park, Leading Star Vietnam Garment Co., Ltd. has successfully recruited 696 workers. With the requirements for new production development, the enterprise has a plan and is recruiting 820 more garment workers from now until the end of the year. Not far away, Oceanus Outwear Co., Ltd. has just completed recruiting 100 more workers in the first 6 months of the year, and is planning to recruit 22 more people to complete the addition to the production line of export clothing products. Another garment enterprise in Bim Son Industrial Park, KH ViNa Co., Ltd., is also recruiting about 100 more workers in the last months of the year. In the first months of the year, the company successfully recruited 58 workers.
In Hoang Long Industrial Park (Thanh Hoa City), two large leather shoe companies are also recruiting more workers. In the first 6 months of the year, Rollsport Vietnam Footwear Company Limited recruited 770 more workers and plans to recruit about 1,430 more workers from now until the end of the year. Similarly, Aleron Vietnam Footwear Company Limited has also successfully recruited 625 workers and is continuing to recruit about 1,000 more workers in the last months of the year.
Since the beginning of the year, in the province’s industrial parks and economic zones, there have been 11 leather, footwear and garment companies recruiting more than 6,000 workers. 10 of these businesses are still recruiting more than 8,000 people in the last months of the year. Thus, the demand for labor in the garment and footwear industry in the whole province is still very large, not to mention a number of new projects under construction.
Many solutions are needed to combat shortages.
According to statistics from the Department of Industry and Trade, Thanh Hoa currently has nearly 300 enterprises operating in the textile and garment sector, creating jobs for about 150,000 workers. As for footwear enterprises, by the end of 2023, there were 27 enterprises operating, creating jobs for about 133,000 people.
In the first 7 months of 2024, the province's investment attraction and implementation of industrial infrastructure investment projects have improved. Typically, Giang Quang Thinh Industrial Park (Thieu Hoa) is speeding up construction progress; The Provincial People's Council has issued a resolution to approve the planning project of the Western Industrial Park of Thanh Hoa City and implement the next steps. Industrial clusters such as: Northeast of Thanh Hoa City, Tho Nguyen (Tho Xuan), Minh Tien (Ngoc Lac) ... have been established or put into operation, attracting industrial production projects, most of which are garment factories. It is expected that in the coming months, a number of factories will be inaugurated and put into operation such as: Shoe factory in Thieu Phu commune (Thieu Hoa), shoe factory in Xuan Duong commune (Thuong Xuan) ...
Thanh Hoa is the third most populous province in the country, and is in the “golden population” period with more than 1.7 million people of working age. However, with the development of many more projects and the recovery of the garment and footwear industry, a lot of labor will be needed in the coming time. If there is no recognition to have timely solutions, this is really a worrying problem.
At the 20th Session of the 18th Provincial People's Council, Acting Director of the Provincial Statistics Office Nguyen Manh Hiep recently expressed his concern: "In the face of signs of labor shortage in some enterprises, especially newly completed enterprises going into production and business, each enterprise and locality, in addition to attracting local workers, needs to have solutions to attract workers from outside the province, especially Thanh Hoa workers who are working far from home to work locally. To do this, enterprises need to innovate production processes and technologies, and increase income to attract workers to work."
According to Mr. Hiep, attracting garment and footwear factories needs to pay attention to the harmonious location and distribute them in many places in the province.
In fact, this issue has also been recognized by the province and some localities. For example, instead of wanting to invest in urban areas or in the plains, South Fame Garments Limited Company went all the way to the mountainous district of Thuong Xuan to invest in a factory because the labor force here is very large. Overcoming the difficult period of the garment industry, the company has more orders. The labor force is always abundant, ensuring production progress, so in 2023 the enterprise produced up to 5 million products, delivering on schedule as signed with partners in the United States, Japan and Europe. With more than 1,800 existing workers, the company is confident in signing and proactively receiving orders in the last months of 2024.
According to the representative of the Department of Industry and Trade, the province has encouraged garment enterprises to gradually shift their investment from processing to final product production, building their own brands to increase the added value of the products. At the same time, priority is given to arranging garment enterprises in industrial parks and clusters, gradually shifting to towns, townships, and remote areas to attract local workers and supply products right in the area. In the period of 2021-2025, garment and footwear projects should selectively attract investment in plain and coastal districts. At the same time, encourage attracting investment in garment and footwear projects in midland and mountainous areas to attract local workers and carry out economic restructuring in mountainous districts. In the period of 2026-2030, Thanh Hoa province will limit attracting new investment in garment and footwear projects that are still manual and labor-intensive. Encourage these businesses to innovate technology and management processes to improve capacity, quality and product value.
Le Dong
Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nguy-co-thieu-lao-dong-nganh-may-da-giay-221432.htm
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