The garment industry in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam, is in need of additional skilled workers in order to achieve the target to become a garment supply hub for the southern region and the nation’s fashion centre by 2020, according to the HCMC Municipal Department of Trade and Industry, VoV reported.
According to the plan, the city’s industry will require an additional 19,500 workers by 2015 to achieve the set target. Approximately 500-1000 skilled workers, such as engineers, technical experts and designers, will also be needed.
Under the garment industry development plan, the HCMC city aims to increase the industry’s production value to more than VND 37 trillion (US$ 1.7 billion) by 2015, more than 1.5 times higher than in 2010. The plan sets out an average growth rate of 8.5 percent in 2015.
To implement the plan, the city will continue to focus on creating value and supply chains for the industry, with an emphasis on environment-friendly products with competitive designs, services, quality and prices while relocating failing inner-city establishments to industrial clusters.
Investment capital for the industry is estimated at more than VND 10 trillion (US$ 470 million) for 2015, with on-site investments accounting for more than VND 2.7 trillion (US$ 126 million).
Bui Mai Huong, head of the garment technique department under the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUT), said HUT is among the two universities in Vietnam which offer courses on garment and textile engineering. HUT is only capable of training 80 engineers in the field a year. (GK)
