No weekends off, seafood businesses struggle to recruit workers

Mr. Hoang Trong Hung, Director of the Atlantic Seafood Factory, said that the company needs about 500 workers to produce goods for the peak season at the end of the year. However, the company is having difficulty recruiting workers.

“Workers often need days off on weekends like Saturday and Sunday. But currently, the seafood industry does not have enough human resources to meet the demand for weekends. Therefore, it is very difficult for businesses to recruit workers." Mr. Hung said.

No weekends off seafood enterprises It is also difficult to compete in recruiting workers compared to other industries such as electronics, footwear, garment... Currently, the average salary of workers is more than 10 million VND/month but workers are not very "interested".

Seafood processing enterprises face difficulties in recruiting workers. (Photo: D.V)

Ms. Tran Thi Hanh, representative of Gio Moi Seafood Company, shared that in addition to not having weekends off, the smelly, cold, and humid working environment is also the reason why workers are not very interested in the seafood processing industry. labor shortage has been going on for a long time.

Because of these shortcomings, some businesses have implemented many plans to attract workers during the peak season at the end of the year.

Ms. Le Thi Minh Phu, General Director of Minh Phu Hau Giang Seafood Company, said that this company has policies to support employees such as: shuttle bus, housing for workers, additional income support... These policies are also contributing to keeping employees with the company.

Mr. Tran Hai, representative of a seafood processing company in Ho Chi Minh City, said that this enterprise is eliminating unnecessary costs to focus on increasing income for workers. This is a "survival" solution to stabilize human resources.

“Over the past two years, the company’s workers’ income has increased by about 15%. Seafood processing workers have an average salary ranging from 9 to 11 million VND/month,” Mr. Hai said.

Seafood processing is hard work. (Photo: B.L) — Seafood processing is hard work. (Photo: BL)

According to the representative Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the Mekong Delta is the largest seafood production and processing area in the country. This area has more than 300 seafood processing and trading establishments with more than 800,000 workers. However, for many years, recruiting workers in the seafood industry has been very difficult.

To overcome the labor shortage, many businesses have applied modern machinery to production stages. Typically, in the seafood cutting stage, some machines have cutting speeds 30-50 times faster than humans. Machines can replace 30% of skilled workers and the accuracy is up to 100%.

According to Vasep, increasing benefits and improving working conditions are also among the ways for businesses to retain employees. Seafood companies need to pay attention to subsidies, salary increases, housing support, and accommodation for workers, and improve the working environment.

Enterprises also need to have concentrated labor recruitment programs, cooperate with localities to mobilize human resources from other places to work. In addition, it is necessary to train and improve labor skills to reduce the rate of job abandonment or labor shortage in the seafood industry.

In the first 10 months of 2025, the export turnover of agriculture, forestry and fishery products reached more than 58.1 billion USD, an increase of nearly 13% over the same period in 2024. Of which, aquatic products contributed 9.31 billion USD, an increase of nearly 13%.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment assessed that the end of the year is a period of very active seafood consumption in markets such as the US, China, Japan, and Europe, with huge room for growth. Products such as shrimp and pangasius are consumed strongly by supermarkets and restaurant chains.

The fisheries industry is forecast to achieve a growth target of 10-15% compared to 2024 with export turnover reaching 10-11 billion USD.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/khong-duoc-nghi-cuoi-tuan-doanh-nghiep-thuy-san-chat-vat-tuyen-lao-dong-5065012.html