Vietnam's manufacturing sector is experiencing an acute labor shortage. Despite the fact that companies offer higher wages and benefits, it is not possible to return workers to factories, writes Worldfootwear.com.
About 370 migrant workers are unlikely to return to the city from their hometowns, according to a survey by the Ho Chi Minh University of Economics and released last December. Of these, 000 have decided not to return permanently, and 140 have no plans to return yet. The poll also predicts that the labor force in Ho Chi Minh City will continue to shrink in the coming months, while unemployment will rise.
A Bank of America research note suggests that Vietnamese may be reluctant to return to work due to both physical and mental health issues. During the lockdown, many workers were required to self-isolate three in place, which meant they had to eat, live and work inside the factory. Many enterprises could not provide adequate living conditions for their workers, crowded in warehouses and parking lots.
Others, feeling they could not bear the cost of maintaining their workers, chose to shut down production, leaving thousands of workers without income. So when restrictions were lifted to contain the summer wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of workers fled to their hometowns. Labor shortages are particularly felt in Ho Chi Minh City and the southern province of Binh Duong, where two of Vietnam's largest industrial parks are located.
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