Nearly 100 domestic and foreign enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City - the southern largest economic hub of Vietnam - offered some 20,000 job vacancies at a job fair held in the city on December 17.

Ten groups of occupations are recording a sharp fall in recruitment demand, and the unemployment rate may increase in the time ahead, said recruiting service provider Navigos Group.

Occupations relating to information technology, high-tech and supporting industries are employment groups with high recruitment demand, experts have said.

Hanoi is estimated to need about 120,000 laborers in the first quarter of this year following the economic recovery that enable businesses of different sectors to resume operations with good market prospects, reported The Hanoi Times.

Vietnam’s labour market has improved, sending goods news to workers being laid off in the final quarter of last year due to a shortfall of new orders faced by their companies, The Saigon Times reported.

In the context of many sectors gradually recovering, the demand for human resources in early 2022 is forecast to increase sharply, especially in some service industries.

Understaffed companies and factories in Ho Chi Minh City will need up to 310,000 workers this year if the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control, according to a survey of the Ho Chi Minh City Center of Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labor Market Information (Falmi).

Despite being heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Japanese manufacturers in Vietnam have officially returned to production and recruitment since the fourth quarter of last year, according to a report released by recruitment services provider Navigos Search earlier this week.