Labor Demand Booms Up - Supply Slightly Drops Down

Tue, 15-May-2007 01:04:00 +0700

Ho Chi Minh City – Do you know which industry is the “hottest” at the moment, what the movement of the labor force is, and whether training and education can meet the demand of labor market? All the mentioned issues can be found in the Vietnam Online Employment Indicator Report for Q1 2007.

The report is conducted quarterly by VietnamWorks.com based on the number of jobs advertised (Demand Index) and resumes posted (Supply Index) on the site. The report which provides readers with comprehensive details about the labor supply and demand as well as the recruitment trend throughout all industries and across Vietnam is a useful reference for both HR managers and job seekers.

The following report highlights a few changes in Labor Demand and Supply that took place during the First Quarter 2007. Results are compared to the Fourth Quarter 2006.

Sales and Accounting/Finance are of great worth

Sales and Accounting/Finance are in the list of top 6 job categories that reported the highest demand. 
According to Vietnam Salary Survey (conducted by Navigos Group for 156 companies), people working in Accounting/finance are also the highest earners. This is a good news for ones who are pursuing accounting/finance jobs.

Top six Job Categories with highest Demand for Q1 2007:

1.Sales
2.Accounting/Finance
3.Engineering
4.Administrative/Clerical
5.IT-Software
6.Marketing

Supply Index decline worries recruiters?

As mentioned, Sales, Accounting/Finance and Administrative/Clerical were the 3 “hot” job categories that challenge recruiters in seeking qualified candidates. Unfortunately, supply indexes of these categories were the ones that showed the most decline, compared to the Forth Quarter 2006.

1. Accounting/Finance
2. Administrative/Clerical
3. Sales

For two consecutive quarters, Supply Index slightly dropped down again. This was caused due to the big holidays. Jobseekers seemed to be idle in looking for new jobs. Occupying the first position in the Labor Supply Categories showing decline was Expatriate with 37%. It could be explained by the mass returning or long holiday vacation of the foreign workers in Vietnam. A leisurely attitude of jobseekers was obvious contrast with the haste of recruiters, painting a clear picture of the labor market in the First Quarter with the two extremes.
However, Mrs. Tiffany Nguyen, the Strategic Initiatives Director of VietnamWorks, is confident to wait for a rapid leap of Supply Index in Q2: “Supply will accommodate Demand. And after the “long footloose days”, jobseekers will be ready to seek for new jobs. In addition, Second Quarter is also the mass graduation time and we can expect a huge need of jobseekers in finding jobs.”

Top six Labor Categories with highest supply for Q1 2007:

1. Sales
2. Accounting/Finance
3. Administrative/Clerical
4. Executive Management
5. Engineering
6. Banking/Invest

Noticeably, engineering once again firmly remained one of the first rankers out of 47 categories demonstrating the Fastest Growth Supply Categories by volume. It is really a good signal for the recruiters although the number of CVs posted is still behind the labor’s need.

Ho Chi Minh City declines its “heat”

There is no surprise when Ho Chi Minh City still led the market in term of job location distribution with 48%. However, with 2% decrease compared to Q4 2006, Ho Chi Minh City declined its impact on the labor market.
It seemed that the “heat” of HCMC had shifted to Hanoi Capital when Hanoi increased its job distribution from 29% to 31%.  Hanoi is also expected to hold more job distribution next quarter.

With only 4%, Binh Duong took the third place.

Jonah Levey, CEO and Founder of Navigos Group and VietnamWorks.com said: “The gap between labor supply and demand underscores the current trend that demand for professionals keeps exceeding supply. Thus, the average salary on the labor market may keep increasing until the market reaches a new equilibrium.”

ABOUT VIETNAMWORKS.COM
www.vietnamworks.com is the largest job website in Vietnam, and a web-recruiting pioneer, matching people with jobs, and matching companies with top talent over the Internet since 2002.  We provide richly featured recruiting services for thousands companies and hundreds of thousands of jobseekers that utilize our job-posting and candidate resume databases. For jobseekers, VietnamWorks.com provides access to the most jobs, the best companies, and the best resources for career advancement.  For employers, VietnamWorks.com provides job posting services, a searchable database in which over one-hundred-thousand jobseekers have posted CVs, and print job advertisement in popular Vietnamese and English newspapers.
VietnamWorks.com serves top Vietnamese and International companies in a wide range of industries, and our technology is linked to other major Internet job and information sites, such as www.dantri.com.vn, www.pcworld.com.vn, and others.  VietnamWorks.com also provides career-related content in the form of jobs and career advice for many newspapers and magazines including Tuoi Tre, Thanh Nien, Saigon Times Daily, The Gioi Vi Tinh, Saigon Tiep Thi, Nguoi Lao Dong, Lao Dong, Vietnam Investment Review, Hanoi Moi, and others. VietnamWorks.com clients include Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Dutch Lady, Nike, Prudential, AIA, Manulife, AC Nielsen, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Suzuki, British Petroleum, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Ericsson, Citibank, and many more.

For more information, please contact Ms. Hoang Thanh Yen at (84 8) 5404 1373 or yen.hoang@navigosgroup.com