Mr. Chu Tien Dung, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Business Associations, speaks at the meeting with the delegation of the HCMC's National Assembly deputies. (Photo: SGGP)

The delegation of the HCMC's National Assembly deputies had a meeting with HCMC-based business voters on October 2, with the attendance of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan, former Member of the Politburo, former Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, Head of the Delegation of HCMC 14th National Assembly Delegation, Member of the 15th National Assembly, and Ms. Nguyen Thi Le, Deputy Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, Chairwoman of the People's Council of HCMC.

Production amid difficulties during the pandemic

At the meeting with voters, Mr. Chu Tien Dung, Chairman of the HUBA, said that businesses had just gone through an extremely tough time, but they had tried their best to join hands with the city to fight the pandemic, restore, and develop the economy.

Many enterprises have overcome difficulties and continued to maintain production under the models of "three-on-site" and "one route, two destinations", which are very expensive and unprofitable, but help to provide enough necessities, food, foodstuffs, and essential consumer goods to people, and at the same time, prevent the domestic and global supply chains from breaking.

According to HUBA’s Chairman, during the fourth outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses in most industries and sectors in HCMC were paralyzed and had to close or halted operations. During this outbreak, only about 20 percent of production capacity can be maintained under the model of "three-on-site" and "one route, two destinations". However, maintaining production at high costs and heavy losses cannot prolong, and the domestic and foreign supply chains are seriously disrupted.

Mr. Chu Tien Dung acknowledged that poor business results had made the number of businesses that dissolved, closed, and temporarily suspended much higher than the number of newly-established ones. Most enterprises that dissolved or ceased operations are small and super-small-sized ones operating in the fields of transport, tourism, or not in the essential industries as prescribed.

At the meeting, the Chairman of the HUBA expected that the thoughts, aspirations, and proposals of enterprises would be recorded for consideration and resolving, to create new motivation to help businesses continue to develop and contribute to the rapid and sustainable recovery of the economy.

Concerns over labor shortage

According to statistics, 24,000 enterprises had left the market in HCMC by August this year, accounting for 28.1 percent and increasing by 6.6 percent over the same period. However, the actual number is much higher because a large number of enterprises have not declared.

Regarding the labor situation, through survey data, nearly 30 percent of workers lost their jobs. In which, the leather and footwear industry dropped steeply by 62 percent; textile industry fell by 42.6 percent; accommodation services declined 37 percent; catering service plunged 38 percent.

“The pressure on the city's social welfare work increases as laborers face difficulties due to job loss and no income. The number of workers who have to leave the city to return to their hometowns is increasing. Some workers do not want to return to the city for work. It is a big difficulty when enterprises resume production, which may seriously affect the economic recovery speed of the city in the near future," said Mr. Chu Tien Dung.

Mr. Pham Van Viet, Vice Chairman of the HCMC Association of Garments, Textiles, Embroidery, and Knitting, said that HCMC had a total of more than 4.7 million workers. Of which, over 3.2 million were in the production and business sectors, and more than 50 percent of them were workers from other provinces. Over the past time, HCMC has cooperated with localities to bring over 33,000 people back to their hometowns, not to mention those who had returned to their hometowns on their own earlier and had not been counted yet.

Many workers want to return to HCMC to work but have not been able to return due to the requirements of pandemic prevention and control and strict travel regulations between localities.

According to Mr. Pham Van Viet, enterprises that are already weak will reduce their productivity, and there will be a risk of supply chain disruption due to labor shortage. Enterprises need practical support policies and guidelines, such as organizing bus trips to bring workers from localities to HCMC, setting up "buffer zones" for screening examination, providing temporary accommodation for workers from other provinces within 14 days in vacant resettlement apartment buildings and schools, where students have not returned, and vaccinating and testing workers before enterprises welcome them back to the factory.

The scene of the meeting of the delegation of the HCMC's National Assembly deputies with HCMC-based business voters. (Photo: SGGP)