HCMC – Many local footwear and garment exporters have begun to go for orders for high-value items given a growing shortage of labor, said an industry expert on Tuesday.
“Many enterprises are facing labor shortages, so they are choosing orders for products of high quality and value,” Diep Thanh Kiet, vice chairman of the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso), told the Daily on the phone.
Kiet is also vice chairman of the Association of Garment-Textile-Embroidery-Knitting in HCMC.
Vietnamese exporters in the footwear and garment sectors, two of the country’s leading export earners, are receiving many contracts from new and old partners. Orders for footwear has risen 16% this year, and 20% for garments. But Kiet said the sectors had been struggling with lack of labor.
Kiet said annual growth in exports of footwear and garments ranged from 15% to 18%. In the first seven months of this year, footwear and garment exports expanded 14% and 17% respectively.
Should productivity in the two industries remain unchanged, labor demand must be increased by 15-18%, or 500,000 workers per annum. The current labor force in the two industries is 2.6 million in total, but worse still, it has fallen by around 300,000 workers a year as jobs in these sectors are no longer attractive.
Kiet said Vietnam footwear and garment producers had for years relied on foreign subcontracts, so they had gained some valuable experience in making items of high value and quality.
