Previously, due to a decrease in orders, many workers returned to their hometowns or switched to other jobs. Now, businesses have increased orders again, but the pressure of labor shortage is increasing because of difficulty in recruiting.
Up to this point, textile and footwear enterprises are all full of orders until the end of this year, some enterprises even have orders until the first quarter of 2025.
However, the current difficulty for businesses is the lack of labor force to meet orders.
Mr. Pham Xuan Hong - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Textile, Embroidery and Knitting Association said that orders from textile and garment enterprises are recovering relatively well. In the second half of 2024, the industry's growth is expected to increase by 15% compared to the first half of the year.
According to Mr. Pham Xuan Hong, the recovery of orders is a good sign but also makes textile and garment enterprises struggle to recruit more workers. In fact, the labor shortage is not only happening to textile and garment enterprises now.
Thanks to the increase in orders, many businesses have been recruiting since the beginning of the year. For example, Song Ngoc Garment Company Limited (Ho Chi Minh City) opened a new sewing line, so it had to continuously recruit workers but is still lacking. Or Viet Hung Joint Stock Company has already opened a production line, and needs to recruit about 200 more workers to start working immediately.
Recruiting workers is difficult even for large companies that pay high salaries and have good social benefits. According to a representative of Nha Be Garment Joint Stock Corporation, the company has done almost everything possible to attract workers, including going to job service centers, participating in recruitment fairs, posting jobs on reputable recruitment sites... but to no avail.
It is forecasted that from now until February 2025, there will be a situation of "pushing" orders from partners, the company may have to recruit more seasonal workers to meet the production rhythm of orders.
Explaining the labor shortage of textile and footwear enterprises, Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan, Vice President of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association, analyzed that previously, due to a decrease in orders, many workers returned to their hometowns or switched to other jobs. Now, enterprises have increased orders again but it is difficult to recruit, putting pressure on the labor shortage problem.
If the company cannot find long-term workers, it will recruit seasonal workers for quick training to meet immediate production needs. Therefore, currently, in addition to improving machinery and equipment, the company is working overtime to ensure that it can follow the delivery plan for partners.
In addition, production costs increase, and living costs for workers also increase. Therefore, increasing income for workers is a very difficult problem for businesses.
In particular, the end of the year is the production season not only for the textile and footwear industry but also for many other industries, so there is a massive recruitment of workers, making recruitment, including seasonal labor recruitment, difficult.
In addition, due to difficult orders in 2023 and the first half of 2024, businesses lack orders, forcing businesses to reduce working hours and reduce labor.
Unemployed workers return to their hometowns and may switch to other jobs, but do not return to work, so the shortage becomes even worse.
To solve the problem of labor shortage, Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan said that it is necessary for businesses to invest in machinery and equipment and improve production capacity. Businesses also need to increase subsidy policies to retain workers.
On the business side, in order to take advantage of the market opportunity that is gradually "warming up", businesses hope that credit institutions will not continue to cut credit limits and increase lending interest rates.
Along with that, increasing input costs, such as increasing regional minimum wages and increasing electricity prices, further increase pressure on businesses, while order prices do not increase or are even negotiated down.
To support businesses to overcome this difficult period, the State needs to have policies to reduce pressure on input price increases to create better competitive advantages for businesses.
Data from the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association also shows that the total export turnover of the textile and garment industry in the first 9 months of 2024 exceeded 32.5 billion USD, an increase of 9.2% over the same period, the export target of 44 billion USD of Vietnam's textile and garment industry in 2024 is very feasible.
With the recent positive situation, the association assesses the possibility of achieving this goal as very high because the end of the year is the peak time for orders and production during Christmas and Lunar New Year.
It is forecasted that Vietnam's textile and garment import and export will continue to be positive in the coming months, because according to cyclical factors, demand for goods often increases sharply in the last months of the year.
Vietnam's main export markets are warming up and have grown again, such as the US, South Korea, Japan, Canada... but the EU market's growth rate is still low.
According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, in 2024, the textile and garment industry aims to achieve total textile and garment export turnover of 44 billion USD, an increase of 9% compared to 2023.
With an accumulated turnover of over 28 billion USD in the first 8 months, the average turnover from now until the end of 2024 needs to reach an average turnover of 4 billion USD per month. However, the second half of the year is also the peak for orders and production during Christmas and New Year, so with the growth momentum in 2 consecutive months, the industry's chances of reaching the finish line are relatively high.
Similarly, for the leather and footwear industry, exports in the past 9 months are estimated to reach 20 billion USD. If the current recovery rate of 10% is maintained, the leather and footwear industry's exports are expected to reach about 27 billion USD in 2024.
Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Xuan - Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association said that orders are currently recovering, many leather and footwear enterprises have orders until the end of 2024, some enterprises have orders until the first quarter of 2025.
Ms. Xuan also said that the double-digit growth achieved is quite positive. In 2024, the leather and footwear industry is likely to reach the target of 27 billion USD.
According to some leather and footwear manufacturing enterprises, orders will be received until the end of 2024, and some companies have received orders until January and February 2025.
According to many businesses, the textile, garment and footwear market has shown signs of warming up since the fourth quarter of 2023. Total textile demand in 2024 is forecast to increase by 5-6% compared to 2023, although it is not equal to the period before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many businesses have orders until the end of 2024 and are negotiating orders for 2025./.
Source: https://baolangson.vn/don-hang-tang-nhung-thieu-lao-dong-kho-khan-bua-vay-nganh-det-may-da-giay-5025780.html
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