HCM City faces labour shortage


Businesses and small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in HCM City are trying to solve a labour shortage, because workers have quit in hope of better pay after Lunar New Year holidays, according to the Centre for Labour Market Information and Human Resource Forecast.

Workers at Leather Footwear and Garment Export Company in HCM City. The city has faced a labour shortage which requires salary and allowance incentives. (Photo: VNS)
Tran Anh Tuan, the centre's standing deputy head, said city-based firms in fields of textile, garment, service, mechanics, electricity and IT needed to recruit 35,000 labourers this month, 60 per cent of them unskilled, Tuan said.

In February, vacancies at city-based firms were 25.58 per cent higher than January, a report by the center said.

The number of workers changing jobs in February was 30 per cent more than January.

With the current shortage of labour, enterprises and companies have drawn up strategies to recruit, including offering salary and allowance incentives, he said.

Strategies also included working closely with universities and vocational schools, Tuan said.

The supply of skilled labour in February was high, with few opportunities in accountancy and administration management, he said.

This month, the number of skilled labour applicants seeking work had increased by around 30 per cent over February, he said.


‘Creative business' awards launched


The Talented Luong Van Can Awards for students were launched yesterday for the first time in HCM City by the Sai Gon Entrepreneur Newspaper and Sai Gon Entrepreneur Club.

The awards, which will be held annually, aim to encourage self starters and business creativity. Students from 20 universities around the country will compete for their share of VND1 billion (US$45,000) in prizes.

Candidates will take part in three rounds, and the one hundred winners will be announced later this year.

The awards were named after Luong Van Can (1854-1927), a Vietnamese teacher and reformer.


HCM City revises clean water prices in rural areas


The HCMC government from March 1 has revised prices of tap water supplied by the National Center for Rural Water Supply and Environment Sanitation in the city’s rural areas.

Under the document signed on Monday, households will pay from VND3,100-6,900 per cubic meter while government offices pay VND4,700, manufacturing units VND5,900, business and services unit VND7,800 a cubic meter.

The tariffs apply to households for living purposes, and social and healthcare units under the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. Each person will register his water usage quota at one water meter.

If many families share the same water meter, the city will charge water fees on the undersigned of the water buying contract.


HCM City to replace thousands of old buses


The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has approved a project to develop its bus service from 2011-2015, under which 1,680 new buses worth VND2 trillion in total will be bought.

All the new vehicles will meet high standards for exhaust fumes or use compressed natural gases as fuel. They will include 571 buses for 80 passengers, 409 buses for 55 passengers, and 700 buses for 40 passengers.

Ho Chi Minh City now has over 3,200 buses, most of which are old and release choking fumes.

Under the new project, companies and cooperatives that need buses in their business operations will receive preferential loans and or payment subsidies from the state.


France to build homes for elderly in Ba Ria-Vung Tau


A France-Vietnam partnership project to build homes for the elderly will be conducted in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau in June with an initial capitalisation of US$32 million. 

The Golden wood home Ho Tram project is expected to be completed in 2015. 

The project was first introduced at the office of the ADEF Residence in Ivry-sur-Seine city on March 5. 

ADEF Residence is a French organisation specialised in building and managing social health centres for the elderly and other people with mental illness.


Hospital-university built for Central Highlands


A hospital-medicine and pharmacy university will operate officially in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai at the end of this year’s second quarter to meet the region’s growing demand for treatment.

The facility developer, Hoang Anh Gia Lai Hospital Joint Stock Company, on March 5 signed a deal with Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmacy University on the on-the-spot professional training for the to-be-operating hospital.
The VND250 billion Hoang Anh Gia Lai hospital-university plans to have 200 patient beds of international standards in the first phase and is expected to provide a total of 500 patient beds in the future.
Under the cooperation deal, the Hoang Anh Gia Lai company will put into operation a medical technology transfer centre to promote medical development in the Central Highlands region.


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