Factories in Can Tho are facing a growing shortage of production workers and technicians. Understanding why this is happening reveals broader challenges for Vietnam’s manufacturing sector.

Businesses in Can Tho City have asked the municipal authorities for clear policies that would allow them to recruit workers from Cambodia and other neighboring countries, because factories cannot find enough staff (P1). However, Nguyen Phuong Lam, director of the Mekong Delta branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, notes that Vietnam currently has no policy specifically encouraging the recruitment of foreign unskilled workers, and existing foreign‑labor rules mainly target highly qualified personnel (P13‑P14).

Lam said that despite recent improvements in transport connectivity, more than one million workers leave the Mekong Delta each year to look for jobs elsewhere, a pattern linked to a decade of inadequate transport infrastructure (P20‑P23). He believes that creating local jobs could encourage some of them to return (P19).

Nguyen Van Hao, chairman of the Can Tho Business Association, warns that labor shortages will worsen as new industrial parks open, intensifying competition for workers and prompting many firms to raise wages (P2‑P4). While companies are investing in automation, Hao stresses that “without people, production cannot be carried out,” meaning technology cannot fully replace human labour (P5‑P6).

In short, the shortage in Can Tho stems from massive out‑migration, rising competition among expanding industrial zones, and the absence of a clear policy to bring in foreign unskilled workers. Without new recruitment measures, factories may continue to struggle to fill their vacancies.