Vietnam is forecast to lack between 150,000 to 200,000 tech/digital workers yearly, reports the Vietnam Economic Times, citing research from the latest Vietnam IT Market Report released by IT recruitment platform TopDev. By 2025, Vietnam may need close to 700,000 IT engineers compared to the current IT and computer science workforce of around 530,000.

Each year, the number of student enrolments in computer science and IT-related majors totals 50,000-57,000. However, 30% of graduates can meet the requirements of businesses, and the rest need additional training by employers for three to six months, according to the report. Due to the economic slowdown, most IT firms scaled down their recruitment plans in 2023. Almost 90% of respondent enterprises plan to recruit less than 50 programmers each, and 80% cut employment costs this year.