Nguyen Ngoc Thang, 34, from Thanh Hoa, has six years of experience in household goods manufacturing and trading in HCM City. He resigned from his post some months ago because he wanted to leave HCM City and settle down in Hanoi to live near his family.

When applying for a job, he asked for a starting salary of VND18-20 million a month. However, most employers said they would pay VND11-12 million.

Thang decided to take a job at a household goods manufacturing company with monthly pay of VND12 million after failing to find a job with higher pay.

He is not satisfied about his job. “Everything is expensive in Hanoi,” he explained.

“I have to pay at least VND10 million for room rent, food and fuel for motorbike. So, the VND12 million pay is just enough to cover basic needs, while looking for another job with higher pay,” he said.

Le Ngoc Vinh, director of a furniture manufacturing and trading company in Hanoi, said the pay for workers in production lines is VND8-9 million, while workers in sale division get VND10-12 million. Meanwhile, key personnel can get VND18-20 million.

Admitting that the pay levels are not high and it is necessary to offer attractive wages to retain workers, she said this is outside her reach.

“The national economy has been recovering slowly after Covid-19, which makes us unable to pay more to workers. At present, maintaining production and ensuring stable salary payment to workers is our top goal,” she explained.

According to the Hanoi Job Service Center, which surveyed 11,000 applications for jobs in October, 15 percent sought jobs with pay of VND10-20 million, while the pay most employers offered was just VND5-10 million, accounting for 57.7 percent of total employment demand.

Regarding candidates’ qualifications, enterprises mostly recruited workers with bachelor’s degree or higher education level (47.98 percent). Meanwhile, 26.39 percent of jobs were offered to unskilled workers and 9.55 percent to technical workers without degrees or professional certificates.

The recruitment demand rises in October every year, especially in retail, service, construction, manufacturing and logistics sectors. Retailers tend to expand their workforce to serve the year-end sale season, while manufacturers scale up their production capacity to provide more goods in the season of festivals.

The center said it woukd join forces with businesses to organize job fairs to connect employees and employers in specific business fields.

Vu Diep