The labor market in 2024 in Ho Chi Minh City has many positive signs when the unemployment rate has decreased to 3.8%. On the other hand, it has created jobs for nearly 330,000 workers as well as created more than 150,000 new jobs.
During his days of unemployment, Nguyen Cong set out his tools to repair things to ease his longing for his job - Photo: C.TRIEU
However, many places that are considered the "housing capital" of Ho Chi Minh City still see many unemployed workers and freelancers, although there is no shortage of new recruitment needs. Because there are many recruitments, but the accompanying conditions depending on the industry are not suitable for all workers.
Mr. NGUYEN CONG (40 years old, construction worker)
Rice of love, dry child, fish sauce for meals
Sitting on the side of the parallel road (Tan Tao Industrial Park), Mr. Tri (from Tay Ninh) was quite tired after a whole day wandering around several industrial parks looking for work, from Tan Binh to Vinh Loc and then down to Tan Tao.
Five months ago, he was a worker at a food company in Vinh Loc Industrial Park. Suddenly, the company announced that he would be laid off a month later.
He tried to ask around but most of them shook their heads, some told him to just send his application back and then think about it. "I'm more sad than tired because I see many places are recruiting, some need thousands of workers but only recruit under 40 years old. That way I'd "fail right from the first round" because I'm 41 years old now," Tri said sadly.
The room less than 5 square meters , which Ms. Kim Hong rents for 1.3 million VND/month on Tran Thanh Mai Street (Binh Tan District), is empty.
Next to a small fan blowing hot air, Ms. Hong sat meticulously dividing the rice cakes into small bags. After four years of leaving her hometown in An Giang to make a living in Ho Chi Minh City, she said she couldn't remember how many jobs she had done: working as a factory worker, helping out at a restaurant, washing dishes, serving food, selling lottery tickets... everything.
A few months ago, her dishwashing job at a restaurant was quite good with a salary of over 6 million VND/month and meals provided, so it was easier to be frugal. Then business went downhill, the owner closed the restaurant, and she became unemployed. Unable to find a job, Ms. Hong imported banh bo, divided it into small pieces, and wandered around selling it everywhere.
Being a farmer's son, trading is not too difficult even though I have to wake up at 4am to get goods.
There were just more sellers than buyers, and they were all workers who were tight on spending, so it was very difficult to sell all the boxes of cakes, even though they only dared to take 300,000 VND as capital for the cakes, and almost every day they sold them until late afternoon.
"On days when I don't have any money, I eat cake instead of rice. When I run out of rice, I wait for charity to give me some, add some dried fish, and a bowl of fish sauce to get through the meal. Being alone, without any relatives, I don't dare spend much," Ms. Hong confided.
Is it happier to live in the countryside?
Mr. Nguyen Cong (40 years old), a construction supervisor who is staying in Tan Tao A ward (Binh Tan district), sighed and said that he had free time but could not be happy. At noon, the room was terribly hot. Just two months ago, many construction projects were in full swing, with so much work that he could "run out of breath".
This is not the first time the "manager" has been unemployed. Although the COVID-19 pandemic was extremely difficult, his career future now looks more uncertain.
Mr. Cong's wife is currently working as a worker at Tan Tao Industrial Park with a salary of over 8 million VND/month. How can she support the family when the oldest child is in 4th grade, the middle child is in 1st grade, and the youngest is only 13 months old?
Daily food, diapers, milk, and tuition fees must be carefully managed to fit into the monthly salary. Not seeing a way out, Cong has considered returning to Gia Lai to live. Back in the countryside, the whole family does not have to squeeze into a tiny rented room and the grandmother does not have to follow her to Ho Chi Minh City to take care of her grandchildren.
Unlike Mr. Cong, Ms. Nguyen Thi Uyen (42 years old) just chose to leave her hometown of An Giang to live in Ho Chi Minh City a few days ago. She used to make a living by trading, but in recent years the ferry market has been deserted, making it difficult to sell anything. Not making enough to eat, Ms. Uyen decided to follow her nephew to the city to learn the trade of selling orange cakes on the street.
After four days of apprenticeship, she said that "selling less and losing more" even though she was rescued by her business partners, but she was not sure if she would lose her capital. She said she planned to switch to selling lottery tickets but also found it difficult because she did not know anyone, had no introduction, and especially without any initial capital, no agent dared to sell her lottery tickets.
"I'm also exhausted from the calculation, but I think that joining the lottery is too confusing, so I'll just stick with this baking business for now. If I'm lucky and sell out, I can earn 150,000 VND in profit to get by. If I don't sell enough, I'll just eat the cake instead of rice," Ms. Uyen laughed.
Small traders also fled the bustling market.
Lo Te Street is the busiest shopping area in the "boarding house capital" in Tan Tao A ward (Binh Tan district).
Because it is the road leading to Ba Hom market, people sell all kinds of things, almost anything can be found on Lo Te street, but recently people have returned a lot of premises. Many places that used to be bustling shops are now closed, with signs for rent.
Ms. Tam (42 years old), the owner of an empty space on this street, said that the rent for a space like hers used to be around 23 million VND/month. But now business is slow, customers are few, so the price of the space has dropped to 18 million VND/month, but the traders still pay, unable to afford the rent.
According to Ms. Tam, right after the COVID-19 pandemic, wholesale was still very stable. Many clothing stalls sold several million VND a night, the Tet season was much more bustling but then it gradually faded away.
"Before, there were always crowds of people and traffic jams, but now the stores have probably reduced by 50%. There are many sellers but no buyers. Nowadays, selling handbags and backpacks is a losing proposition," said Ms. Tam.
"The capital of boarding houses" also fell
There is no shortage of boarding houses on Tran Thanh Mai Street (Binh Tan District) with signs for rent and many vacant rooms - Photo: C.TRIEU
On some streets in Tan Tao A Ward (Binh Tan District), which is considered the "boarding house capital" of Ho Chi Minh City, you can see signs "rooms for rent" hanging almost everywhere. Room prices range from a few hundred thousand to over a million VND, including the phone number of the boarding house manager.
I asked a few innkeepers, but most of them only received pensive looks and shakes of their heads in disappointment.
A landlord said that at this time, it is extremely rare for every row of boarding houses to have empty rooms in the former "landing house capital". If you are lucky, there are only a few empty rooms left, but there is a row of 30 rooms that is currently half empty.
(to be continued)
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/that-nghiep-chat-vat-mong-an-cu-them-xa-20250223101108664.htm
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