As HCM City authorities have asked all bars, discotheques, karaoke and massage shops to close their doors until March 31 to help preventthe spread of coronavirus, thousands of workers in business fields have become very worried.

Nguyen Thi N, a worker at akaraoke shop on Suong Nguyet Anh street in district 1, said many workers will become redundant.

“We live on tips from customers, and we don’t have fixed monthly salary. Now as the shop has to close, we won’t have income and we still have to pay for rent and daily food,” she complained.

Nguyen Xuan Ngoc, a tour guide at Aussie Travel, said he has had only two tours, to Thailand and Hanoi, so far this year. As he has been sitting idle for a couple of weeks, his income is just 1/10 of that of the same period last year.

As many enterprises are considering laying off workers, the unemployment rate is expected to rise in the time to come.

“Many tour guides have to shift to other business – selling seafood, specialty food and face masks,” he said, adding that fixed salaries are low and tour guides live on tips and income from other sources.

However, Ngoc still feels lucky as he is a permanent worker of Aussie Travel and has monthly pay. His colleagues from other firms don’t have income these days as tours have been cut.

A tour guide who asked to be anonymous said that before the epidemic outbreak travel firms had designed many outbound tours, including tours to Japan to enjoy the sakura season and to South Korea to enjoy the cherry season.

To prepare for the tours, travel firms had to spend big money to book air tickets for the whole year.

“So, we understand why the company is in big difficulty now,” he said.

Real estate sale agents have also suffered heavily. Nguyen Thanh Cuong, who has 10 years of experience, said the market has never been thus gloomy, even in the 2008 crisis.

“Because of legal problems and Covid-19, real estate firms cannot open new projects for sale. As a result, sales people have become redundant,” he said, explaining that sales agents live on commissions and don’t receive monthly fixed salary.

Song Long, one of the largest restaurants in Phu Nhuan district, has cut the workforce by 50 percent because of the revenue decrease.

Thuong, manager of Diamond karaoke shop in Binh Tan district, said he wants to re-open after March 31. If not, the shop will go bankrupt and workers will become redundant.

Thanh Lich 

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