Migrant workers returned to their hometowns from HCM City in huge numbers after October 1, causing a severe shortage of workers in the industrial hub. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — HCM City agencies and businesses are sending text messages to workers who have returned home, pleading with them to return to work.

Phạm Đức Hải, deputy head of the city Steering Committee for Pandemic Prevention and Control, said between just October 2 and 4  more than 5,279 businesses registered to resume operations.

Many others are in the process of getting employees, machinery and equipment and facilities ready to reopen, he said.

The number of workers now in industrial parks and export processing zones is just 135,000, or 46 per cent of the normal requirement, and a severe shortage looms.

It also threatens the Saigon Hi-Tech Park though not to the same extent as the industrial parks and export processing zones.

It normally employs around 50,000 workers, but only 40,000 live in the city while the remaining 10,000 live mostly in the provinces of Bình Dương and Đồng Nai, and it is urging them to return to work at the earliest.

Nguyễn Văn Lâm, deputy director of the city Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, said all migrant workers who have returned to their hometowns would get text messages from city authorities or businesses.

Nevertheless, they have to meet certain safety criteria related to COVID-19 testing and vaccination, he said.

People living in the city who are looking for jobs could contact 127 licensed employment agencies, he added. — VNS