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Jobless insurance claims up, employment down
The increasing number of enterprises filing for bankruptcy in HCM City in the first quarter of the year has resulted in a surge in unemployment insurance claims.
More than 5,000 enterprises in the city filed for bankruptcy in the past three months, 4.6 times higher than that of the same period last year, according to a report released by the municipal People's Committee.
A total of 36,132 laid-off workers in the city claimed unemployment benefits during the period, up 57 percent, said Nguyen Cao Thang, deputy director of the HCM City Employment Service Centre.
In March alone, the number of applications soared to 17,000, up 60 percent.
The upward trend in unemployment insurance claims will likely continue over the next few months, he said.
Most laid-off workers registering for benefits are those working in the labour-intensive and industrial production sector such as garments and footwear.
Job cuts and the closure of many enterprises have resulted in a huge leap in unemployment insurance claims.
More than 60 percent of small-and medium-sized enterprises have slowed down production and cut their workforce due to insufficient capital, according to figures released by the city's Association of Enterprises.
According to Tran Thanh Duc, deputy director of the Employment Service Centre under the HCM City Export, Processing and Industrial Zones Authority, the centre in previous years received between 40 and 50 recruitment orders a week, but now only gets a few.
The recruitment demand of enterprises in export processing zones and industrial parks has dropped steadily this year, he said.
Only eight enterprises recruited workers directly and 30 other enterprises participated online at the third job fair in the city held early this month, said Tran Xuan Hai, director of the HCM City Employment Service Centre.
Recruitment demand fell by half compared with previous fairs, said Hai.
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