Quarter 4 of 2007 makes no surprise in terms of labor demand-supply trend, the demand for skilled talent far exceeds supply and the gap is widening. The market is still being controlled by hot fields, namely Sales, Accounting/Finance, Engineering, Administrative/Clerical, IT-Software, and Manufacturing.
Manufacturing category keeps uptrend throughout the year
It is noticeable that the Manufacturing category keeps its uptrend demand for the whole year. Amongst the top six categories in demand, the Manufacturing category increases 28% as compared to the previous quarter, becoming the highest growth category of this quarter.
Sales category lures more job seekers
Also in the top six categories in demand, the Sales category has surpassed in both demand and supply, bringing a lot of opportunities to both job seekers and employers in this category. For the first time of the year, the supply index of the Sales category reaches the highest increase of 8% compared to the previous quarter and 13% compared to the same period last year, helping to narrow the big gap between the demand and supply.
Overview of 2007 human resources market
Unequal race of Demand and Supply
Statistics shows the demand index has had a significant increase of 67% in 2007 while the supply sluggishly follows at 22%. This leads to a big gap between the need for talented people and the available labor resource in the market. Moreover, the gap between the racers keeps widening, predictably to make the demand-supply race tenser and tenser in 2008 while demand is predicted to take the lead.
Real Estate category gears up
Indeed, both demand and supply indexes of the Real Estate category are ceaselessly increasing, reflecting a fast and strong growth of this industry in 2007. According to the supply index, Real Estate is listed among the Best Growth categories with an increase of 36% in quarter 4. Also, the demand index of this category regularly increased for the whole year 2007 and reaching 9% in quarter 4.
Accounting/Finance excited by new opportunities
Accounting/Finance has again provoked tremendous talks and analysis as the category that has the biggest shortage of labor supply in the market. The demand index increases 107% compared to the fourth quarter of 2006. The supply, at a much lower pace, increases by only 15% against the same period last year. Though both the supply and demand indexes demonstrate the upward trend, the supply index still couldn’t chase up. As a result (see the chart below), this leaves the employers in this field thirsty for more talented and skilled people.
Top six of the year in both demand and supply
In 2007, Sales, Marketing, Finance/Accounting, Engineering, Administrative/Clerical, IT-Software are the top six in demand of the year. Most of the time these categories appeared as the top six categories in demand through the four quarterly reports although the ranking orders may change periodically (see chart No. 9 of the Report).
Accounting/Finance, Sales, Administrative/Clerical, Banking/Invest, Executive Management and Engineering are listed as the top six categories in supply of 2007 (see chart no. 10 of the Report).
Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi lead in attracting labor force
In quarter 4, Ho Chi Minh took up 43% while Hanoi had 35% in terms of job location distribution across Vietnam, leaving the share of only 22% to the rest of other 66 cities and provinces. In 2007, these two cities always led and left the rest of cities/provinces behind with a big gap in term of job distributions.
Note: This quarterly Report is a review of the labor demand and supply, calculated on the basis of the amount of jobs advertised (labor demand index) and resumes posted (labor supply index) on VietnamWorks.com, reflecting the trend of the labor market. The above is the excerpt from the Vietnam Online Employment Indicator Report of Quarter 4/2007 (referred to as the “Report” above) by Vietnamworks.com, the leading job website in Vietnam.
