Despite expectations to recover, the labour and employment market in Vietnam in the first six months of 2023 did not see much improvement. As recorded by Adecco Vietnam, the overall hiring demand decreased by more than 30% compared to the same period last year when the economy resumed after the impact of the pandemic.

Adecco noted some sectors, such as consumer finance, real estate and retail, have experienced significant declines in recruitment due to restrictive government policies and tightening consumer spending. Other sectors such as pharmaceutical, healthcare and technical sales saw a more resilient demand for skilled professionals.

According to the General Statistics Office, the labour force and the number of employed persons in Q2 2023 increased compared to the previous quarter and compared with the same period last year, but the unemployment rate and underemployment in working age also increased over Q1 2023.

Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong, director of permanent recruitment service in Hanoi for Adecco Vietnam, said, “As domestic and international economies still inherit many potential risks, enterprises are gearing towards promoting lean personnel structure, focusing on recruiting replacement positions, and adopting a more selective approach to filling vacancies rather than expanding to new positions. The new vacancies mainly belong to projects that have been planned in the previous phase and are in progress.”

“This trend affects many industries, causing a significant disparity between oversupply and limited labour demand, resulting in an extremely competitive job market,” Phuong said.

Nguyen Hoang Thanh Chuong, head of permanent recruitment service, Adecco Vietnam predicts that the labour market in the second half of 2023 will continue to face many difficulties and has not seen any positive signs from the employers. Several industries are expected to drive the job market such as technology, healthcare, e-commerce, renewable energy and digital services with increasing demand for skilled professionals.

Chuong said, “Opportunities open for domestic labours when many large corporations in Vietnam are changing their recruitment strategies. Open positions for expat are decreasing sharply, mainly focusing only on important functions in the early stages of the investment plan. More specifically, the role of expat vacancies is mainly to train and transfer technology and domestic candidates with high professional skills will be prioritised by businesses to take on these transfers."

Adecco noted that technological transformation is taking place in various industries and expected to continue to thrive in the second half of 2023.

“Job seekers need to accelerate updating their skills in digital technology and utilising the application of artificial intelligence, digitalisation, automation into their current field to seize opportunities in a turbulent period with most of the strategies geared towards technology reform and cost optimisation,” Adecco stated.