Over recent years, the severe labour shortage, especially high-quality staff, is hitting many businesses operating in Da Nang. It is worth noting that, in the face of nearby localities speeding up investment attraction, this issue has become increasingly urgent, creating a ‘headache’ for companies in recruiting their highly qualified employees.

Many enterprises operating in local industrial parks have been facing a shortage of labourers over recent years.

Mr Satoru Takizawa, the General Director of Daiwa Viet Nam Co., Ltd, based in the Hoa Khanh Industrial Park, remarked it is high time to make a long-term strategy for developing human resources.

Many FDI enterprises, including Japanese-invested ones, operating in the city usually offer training to new employees who are recruited strictly from universities and junior colleges in the city and elsewhere in the country. However, it usually takes several years to run such a training course, in addition to high training costs.

Another problematic issue is that, in the face of businesses being embroiled in headhunting feud, many highly-qualified employees have the tendency to leave for larger enterprises and corporations which promise higher salaries, and this fact is leading to an unfair competition for human resources.

Based on these facts, it is urgent for the city to develop a human resource training strategy in the 5 -10 next years, especially as investment attraction activities are thriving with more new investors doing business in the central coastal city.

In particular, how to ensure adequate labour forces for new businesses whilst guaranteeing human resource stability for existing ones should be taken into account.

Besides, universities and junior colleges should need to develop their training majors and understand more about the recruitment requirements of businesses so that their training programmes will adjust properly. 

In his perspectives, Mr Akiyama Koichi, the KANE-M DAD Director, said, as a large training hub in the Central and Central Highlands regions, Da Nang should ensure sufficient human resource supplies for its businesses and those operating in the regions at large.

Mr Tran Van Linh, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trading Joint Stock Company, raised his deep concern over an ongoing intense competition between Da Nang and neighbouring localities.

In recent years, many enterprises have encountered lots of difficulties in recruiting workers, especially before and after the Lunar New Year festival.

At present, Da Nang’s strongly growing tourism and service industries are attracting the majority of the local labour force, and this fact makes it difficult for manufacturing businesses to recruit workers.

Worse still, many job hunters have been seeking employment in such less-developed neighbouring localities as Quang Nam and Quang Ngai whose housing and living expenses are lower than in Da Nang.

Therefore, many businesses operating in the city are shouldering heavier burden in raising salaries and ensuring better support policies for their employees whilst they still face many difficulties in their production and business activities.

According to their calculations, in order to retain workers, businesses must come up with a solution to ensure an average annual pay raise of 5% / person. However, in order to implement this plan, they must reach the annual growth rate of 5%.