The strategy is born with the aim to increase labor performance in the city compared to the national average and to answer the need to restructure key economic sectors in strategic areas.
This timely move, considered a sustainable and fundamental solution, is expected to have a multifaceted impact on the city's labor market, as well as the regional and national labor markets.
The strategy's "revolutionary" nature stems from the recognition that the labor market must adapt to the profound global shifts that are currently underway. As the core values and survival conditions of the economy revolve around the twin pillars of "green" and "digital," the labor market cannot remain immune to these transformations.
Vietnam's establishment of a "comprehensive strategic partnership" with major powers, particularly in the areas of microelectronics, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence, highlights the need to prioritize the training of high-quality technology manpower. Moreover, in a world where geographical boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred, the strategy emphasizes the importance of interconnectedness, diversity, and multimodality in trade, production, and distribution.
To align with the priority of developing high-tech and digital industries and becoming a leading regional service center, the city’s strategy calls for the establishment of concentrated hi-tech industrial parks and investments in strategic fields such as robotics, biotechnology, and specialized medical services. This dual approach aims to create a high-quality, skilled labor market alongside the planning and development of smart cities, satellite cities, and green cities.
HCMC focuses on forming 16 business models in nine main technology groups of Mobile internet, Cloud computing, Big data, Artificial intelligence, Fintech, IoT, Advanced robotics, Additive manufacturing, and Semiconductor technology.
The Strategy also mentions e-commerce and the needs to reskill the city workforce in the new context. Particularly, with the strong emergence of ‘commerce on social platforms’, it is urgent to update labor and business laws and regulations, as well as provide comprehensive training programs in technical skills, soft skills, and legal knowledge for both businesses and workers.
HCMC now possesses certain advantages, being a leader by ranking among the top five localities in the country for the Provincial Green Index (PGI). The Strategy highlights the urgent need for green skills associated with green jobs. Green jobs tend to require more skills and a higher level of scientific and technological expertise than traditional ones.
Via the content about green jobs, HCMC is going to expand its inter-regional links and increase the competitiveness of its economy. This depends on another strength of the city – the surplus and young workforce, with laborers from 15 years old up accounting for 50 percent of the city population. More than 87 percent of the current workforce have been trained, mostly at university level, not to mention the manpower from other countries.
To ensure sustainable employment in the context of the transition to a green economy, a circular economy, a digital economy, and a sharing economy, the city must diversify its methods of attracting investment in industries and sectors that encourage investment or new industries and models. This includes the ongoing implementation of policies to attract experts and talents to the semiconductor industry.
The strategy advocates for public-private partnership in investment, with a focus on mobilizing foreign direct investment to both generate capital flows and leverage expertise in labor training and retraining, organizational management, and market development. Particularly important is the effective linkage between universities, academies, businesses, and workers.
With those aims in mind, HCMC’s labor-employment strategy in the 2023-2025 period, with a vision to 2030, is a solution for labor productivity growth, unemployment rate decrease, living standard improvement, as well as a method to maintain the health of businesses sited here within the city's vibrant economic and social landscape.
