Difficult situation for workers when businesses do not recruit workers over 40 years old

Fearing being cheated, father personally finds job for daughter

At 10am, a skinny, dark-skinned man, about 50 years old, stopped his car in front of a recruitment sign outside Thang Long Industrial Park (Dong Anh, Hanoi). Before he could take off his hat, a veteran security guard shouted from afar: "We don't hire workers over 40 years old, go home."

However, this person stubbornly walked over and looked around for a job vacancy in the industrial park.

"I'm looking for a job for my daughter," Mr. Doan Van Khoa (in Ngoc Lac, Thanh Hoa) explained with a smile.

His daughter has just finished high school and wants to go to Hanoi to work as a factory worker. He has been working on construction projects in Hanoi for many years and is renting a room in Kim Chung commune (Dong Anh, Hanoi).

Going to Hanoi to work, his daughter will stay with him. Today, he went to find a job for his daughter because a few days ago, his daughter was almost cheated.

Mr. Khoa goes to find a job for his daughter (Photo: Son Nguyen).

A few days ago, while still in his hometown, this young man joined social media groups of workers. After contacting them, someone promised to help him find a job at an electronics company in Thang Long Industrial Park.

Immediately after arriving in Hanoi, his daughter showed up at the gate of the industrial park but there was no one to take her to find a job as scheduled. Before that, the brokerage side had asked for a fee of 300,000 VND. Hearing that he had to pay money, Mr. Khoa sensed a "smell" of fraud.

"This is my first time working, I just want to find a job in an industrial park. My family doesn't expect any salary, as long as I have a job," said Mr. Khoa.

After observing for a while, Mr. Khoa exclaimed that there were too few companies recruiting. He gave up and went home, thinking about finding another job.

Living on unemployment benefits

After the National Day holiday, Ms. Nguyen Thu Trang (in Thanh Ba, Phu Tho) returned to Hanoi to find a new job. At the end of May, she was one of hundreds of workers who had to quit their jobs because the company went bankrupt.

The company produces rubber gaskets, her job is not too hard, just standing at the rubber press machine. With a basic salary of 5.2 million VND/month, along with overtime, her income can be up to 9-10 million VND/month.

After working for 4 years, when the company announced bankruptcy, she and many other workers felt disappointed and regretful. "There were people who had contributed for more than ten years and paid a lot of social insurance, so they felt very sorry," said Ms. Trang.

Ms. Trang went looking for a job 3 months after the company went bankrupt (Photo: Son Nguyen).

The female worker said bitterly that it is very difficult for 45-46 year old workers to get back to work after quitting their jobs. Because in this industrial park, workers aged 40-42 are "too old".

Being eliminated, these "overage" workers have to look for other jobs outside. Ms. Trang feels lucky that she lost her job at the age of 30, and can still work as a factory worker and find work in the industrial park.

The female worker said: "This year, most companies in the industrial park have less work. Every year at this time, companies recruit a lot for the year-end season, but now there are only about 20 businesses posting recruitment information on the board."

Having worked as a worker for many years, Ms. Trang knows which companies will have many orders and create jobs.

"Today, when I came to look for a job, I saw two promising companies. In the industrial park, the salary difference between companies is only 100-150 thousand VND. I'm mainly looking for a company that allows overtime."

Currently, she is using her unemployment benefits of 3.6 million VND/month to maintain her life while waiting to find a new job. For the past 3 months, her husband's salary of more than 10 million VND as a truck driver has been the family's livelihood.

Female worker leaves after "targeting" 2 companies that are recruiting (Photo: Son Nguyen).

When her benefit period was about to end, she was forced to find a job. She remembers the time when she worked overtime a lot, each month she and her husband saved 10 million VND, which they sent back to their hometown for their grandparents to raise their two children.

But without a job, her family's income is only enough to cover expenses, living expenses, raising children, and paying rent.

In the first 8 months of the year, the Hanoi Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs received and assessed 57,351 applications for unemployment insurance, issued decisions to grant benefits to more than 56,000 eligible people, with a total support amount of over 1,500 billion VND.

According to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, in the first half of 2023, the labor market continued to face many difficulties, affecting more than half a million workers, including those who lost their jobs, had their working hours reduced, and had their labor contracts suspended.

Notably, the number of job losses and reductions mainly falls in labor-intensive industries such as textiles, footwear, electronic components manufacturing and wood processing, and simple and elderly labor.

Therefore, experts believe that in order to help this group of workers have the opportunity to re-enter the labor market and ensure their livelihood, in addition to support policies on social insurance and unemployment insurance, it is necessary to pay attention to vocational training and improving skills for workers.

Source link: https://dantri.com.vn/lao-dong-viec-lam/the-kho-voi-cong-nhan-khi-doanh-nghiep-khong-tuyen-lao-dong-ngoai-40-tuoi-20230911112719557.htm