Why is the demand for recruitment high, but many workers still have difficulty finding jobs?

Being old, afraid of changing living environment, salary is too low compared to expectation or only wanting seasonal work are reasons why many workers have difficulty finding new jobs.

With orders picking up, some businesses in Ho Chi Minh City are urgently recruiting large numbers of workers, but many workers, despite needing jobs, still do not apply.

That is the case of Ms. Tran Thi Kim Linh (from An Giang), currently living in Binh Tan district. Ms. Linh suddenly lost her job nearly a year ago after more than 10 years working at a large leather shoe company. After losing her job, she ran everywhere to find a new job but only received head shakes because at that time, many businesses were still struggling and there was very little demand for recruitment. After more than 2 months of looking for a job, she was hired by a production facility to work seasonally (shoe sole glue) with a salary of 5 million VND/month, only half of her previous salary. Fortunately, she still had unemployment insurance so she had enough to take care of her two young children.

Why is it that despite high recruitment demand, many workers still have difficulty finding jobs? Photo 1

Older workers, after losing their jobs, choose to work freelance to take care of their families.

By the end of 2023, many companies were recruiting workers again, but she did not apply. She said: "Most companies have low starting salaries, only a little higher than the minimum wage. If I start working officially, I will no longer receive unemployment benefits. At that time, my salary will not be enough to pay for rent and take care of my children. Therefore, I decided to work seasonally until my unemployment insurance period ends and withdraw my social insurance at once before looking for a formal job."

One of the reasons why many workers find it difficult to find new jobs after losing their jobs is their age (over 40 for women and over 45 for men). That is the case of Mr. Tran Trong Tinh (Cu Chi district). Mr. Tinh used to be a worker at a leather shoe company in Cu Chi district. At the end of 2022, due to low orders, the company had to reduce its workforce. Mr. Tinh is among them. Losing his job at nearly 50 years old made him face countless difficulties because few businesses accept older workers. Unable to find a formal job at the factory, he turned to selling lottery tickets to help his wife take care of their children. It has been more than a year now. He earns 150,000 VND a day, which is not much but enough for rent, electricity, water and some living expenses for his family.

In addition, many workers, due to health reasons or fear of changing their living environment, accept to work freelance rather than apply to manufacturing companies. For example, Ms. Dinh Thi Thao (from Long An), is currently working seasonally at a garment processing company in District 6. Previously, because her children were still young and she had to take care of them, she only accepted jobs to work at home.

Her husband is a bricklayer, before his job was steady, his daily income was about 500,000 VND, enough to take care of the family so she did not have any economic pressure, but recently, his job is not as good as before, sometimes it is, sometimes it is not, and his income has also decreased. Seeing that the children are grown up and can go to school by themselves, Ms. Thao wants to have a more stable job to help her husband. "However, finding a suitable job is not easy. The place that recruits workers is too far from where I live, I only have a broken-down motorbike, my steering is weak, traveling far is very risky. Therefore, I chose to work seasonally for a company near my home with a salary of more than 6 million VND/month. If I am lucky, the company has an official recruitment need, I will apply immediately" - she shared.