Labour demand plunges as business concerns remain
The online labour demand took a nosedive in the first half of this year as an indicator of the tough business situation and has not showed clear signs of recovery in a short term, as tracked by VietnamWorks.com.
The latest report of VietnamWorks.com unveiled the employment orders on the website in the first six months of 2012 dropped 18 percent year-on-year. This reflects current performance of businesses in the face of the economic slowdown.
The online labour demand index of VietnamWorks.com has fluctuated this year, rising from as low as 66 points in January to 187 in February but falling to 156 points in March, 134 in April. The index increased to 160 points in May but went down to 137 points last month.
VietnamWorks.com commented in the report that Vietnam’s economy was still in difficulty, forcing companies to limit their recruitment of new employees. The largest online recruitment provider in Vietnam noted as usual, the labour demand dropped gradually from the third quarter till the end of a year.
The report said 44 out of the 59 sectors recorded by VietnamWorks.com on the website experienced a decrease in employment demand. Not surprisingly, real estate, construction and architecture/interior decoration took the top three positions in the list of sectors with the online labour demand decline in the January-June period.
The period saw year-on-year decreases of 52 percent in the online labour demand from architecture/interior decoration, 50 percent from real estate, 49 percent from construction, 37 percent from accountancy/auditing, and 36 percent from accountancy/financing.
VietnamWorks.com said the real estate and construction sectors had not recovered and so their ailing performance had made inroads into the architecture/interior decoration sector.
A report released by the HCM City government about social-economic updates in this city in the first half of 2012 said 56 property trading floors suspended operations or moved to new locations without registrations.
The domestic investment section of the report said as of June 19, more than 1,110 enterprises had registered disbandment at the HCM City Department of Planning and Investment, up 21 percent year-on-year. This agency also received announcement of 972 businesses for operation suspension compared to 253 enterprises in the same period last year.
Also in HCM City alone, according to the report, over 70,397 completed applications for unemployment allowances in the first six months of this year, up 22,009 over the year earlier period.
With declining recruitment orders from certain sectors, VietnamWorks.com projected fiercer competition and a tougher future for jobseekers, especially around July when a large number of new tertiary graduates entered the market.
However, there remained bright spots in the labour market in the first half of this year, as businesses in 15 sectors still hired more employees. The online labour demand registered the highest growth of 41 percent for luxury goods, followed by high technology with 34 percent, home appliances/personal care products with 25 percent, Internet/online communications with 10 percent and information technology with 9 percent.
In terms of localities, HCM City led the online labour demand index with 182 points in the first half of 2012 but down more than 12 percent compared to the same period last year. The index fell up to 26 percent in Hanoi when ending the period with 143 points.
The online labour demand index for Binh Duong, Bac Ninh and Danang was also lower in the first half than the year earlier period.
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Category: Business
