VietnamWorks.com, the leading online job service in Vietnam, today released its quarterly Online Employment Indicator Report, which showed a continued gap-closing trend between online labor demand and supply in quarter II/2008.
Online labor gap between demand and supply continued the closing trend
According to the Report, 24 of the 49 industries tracked on VietnamWorks.com declined in demand, while the demand indexes of the remaining 25 industries tracked were up, resulting in a flat growth at 0.3% in demand. This is the first time since quarter IV/2006 had the online demand index gone flat during the hopping season, reflecting the recent economy.
Meanwhile, the online supply index grew at a modest rate of 6% in total, the lowest rate in two recent consecutive quarters. While supply in the 13 industries tracked was in reduction, among the increasing ones, Legal recorded the highest gain at 24%. In two consecutive quarters, the gap between labor demand and supply indexes had been continually abridged, helping cool down the Vietnam labor market recently.
Sales, Engineering, Accounting/Finance and Administrative/Clerical continued to be the “hottest” industries in the labor market
Sales, Engineering, Accounting/Finance and Administrative/Clerical, have been consistently in the Top Six Labor Demand and Supply Categories since quarter I/2007, demonstrating that these are still the “hottest” industries in the labor market.
The demand index of IT-Software fell 2% this quarter, but it was still one of six categories that gained the highest demand indexes in this quarter. Furthermore, IT-Software also has been in the Top Six Labor Demand Categories for six consecutive quarters, meaning supply for this industry continued to be lacking.
In the Top Six Labor Supply Categories, Accounting/Finance and Banking/Invest registered 22% and 20% growth in comparison with the previous quarter, taking first and second positions. However, the demand indexes dropped 3% and 13% compared with quarter I/2008 respectively.
Notably this quarter, the Manufacturing supply index edged up by 5% and demand index gained a 19% increase compared to quarter I/2008, making it on the list of the Best Growth By Volume and enabling it to replace Marketing in the Top Six Labor Demand Categories. Furthermore, the demand index in Manufacturing had increased continuously since the beginning of 2007, showing a steady growth of this industry recently.
Demand and supply in Securities cooled down after a fast and furious quarter
Securities had the steepest decline in quarter II/2008 with a 63% decrease in demand and a 9% drop in supply compared to the previous quarter, reflecting the damping stock market in Vietnam in the last three months, frustrating both employers and employees, causing a mass flee of workforce in this industry. The harsh elimination of employment in Securities, however, was a good remedy to stabilize labor demand and supply in this category, which had overheated recently.
Furthermore, the demand index of Advertising/Promotion/PR, one of the “hot” industries which had attracted a lot of young candidates, lost 11%, while the supply index continued to grow with an increase of 7% compared to the first quarter of the year 2008.
Job by Job levels: The labor market was mostly in the dearth of qualified workforce
In the second quarter of the year 2008, job availability for experienced staff at the non-manager level still prevailed at 66.7%, despite the slight down of 0.8% in comparison with the previous quarter. Also, job opportunities for jobseekers at the Team Leader/Supervisor level reached 9.3%, accounting for a 0.6% growth against quarter I/2008. This showed the labor market was mostly in the dearth of qualified workforce.
About VietnamWorks.com
VietnamWorks.com is the largest job website in Vietnam, a bridge matching employees with employers since 2002. For job seekers, VietnamWorks.com provides access to thousands of jobs, the best companies, and the finest resources for their career advancement. For employers, VietnamWorks.com provides online job posting service, a searchable database, VietnamWorks Select, VietnamWorks Capture as well as print job advertisements in popular Vietnamese and English newspapers. The resume database of VietnamWorks contains over 300,000 resumes frequently updated, where employers can find suitable candidates quickly and effectively.
