Vietnam’s construction industry is expected to continue facing underemployment danger this year as the property market gloom has forced many project owners to halt new developments.

Under the Ministry of Construction’s calculation, around 17 to 25 workers are needed to build a square meter of house, not including those for producing construction materials. Meanwhile, around 10 house managing and operation jobs are created when a condo block is put into use.

However, many construction enterprises are considering layoff schemes to reduce operation costs as their building projects have fallen behind schedule given economic difficulties.

“No businesses want to sack their employees but they have to choose between a huge staff structure and a simplified one to survive difficulties and avoid bankruptcy dangers,” said Nguyen Van Duc, deputy director of Dat Lanh Real Estate Company.

Given adverse impacts of the economic downturn, Dat Lanh Co. has gathered consulting staffs from two offices into a single one. As a result, only necessary consultants will be retained at the new office while the rest will work at home or be sacked.

Pham Trung Ha, a representative of Hoa Phat Land Joint Stock Co., said the construction sector will have to face many challenges in the coming time, especially underemployment. The enterprise has also begun its layoff scheme and narrowed down operation areas.

As difficulties of the real estate market will continue to last this year, a large number of unskilled laborers working at building sites will face a high danger of unemployment.

Speaking at a conference of construction enterprises in Hanoi late last month, Minister of Construction Trinh Dinh Dung expressed his concerns over difficulties in the sector this year although he did not give a detailed figure for underemployment possibility. Dung said difficulties of the real estate market will continue to last at least till the end of the second quarter, causing many challenges for the labor market.
 

(Source: Vietnamnet)