University Graduates Face High Competition in Ho Chi Minh City Job Market

University graduates in Ho Chi Minh City are facing intense competition for jobs, even as businesses report a shortage of skilled workers needed for direct production. This imbalance highlights a growing pressure on highly educated job seekers in the city's labor market.

The Ho Chi Minh City Employment Service Center reported that in June 2026, there were 23,680 job seekers and 29,972 available positions. The highest demand was for general labor and simple tasks, followed by trained machine operators and production roles, and then sales and business positions. In these areas, the number of applicants was lower than the available jobs.

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The labor market in June continued to record a positive recovery trend as business recruitment demand was higher than the labor supply. Human resource demand for production and business is still high. However, labor supply and demand are not truly balanced due to differences in industry structure and professional qualifications.

Conversely, sectors like human resources, administration, legal affairs, and office work saw more applicants (2,843) than openings (1,326). Similarly, accounting, auditing, and tax roles had 1,523 seekers for 1,051 positions. This data underscores the competitive landscape for administrative and financial roles.

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Professional qualifications, labor supply and demand are relatively balanced in the group of workers without specialized technical skills and with intermediate qualifications. However, businesses have a much higher demand for technical workers without degrees than the supply (4,167 job seekers, 15,087 positions to fill).

While the overall labor market showed positive recovery signs in June, with recruitment demand exceeding labor supply, a significant gap persists. The center's director, Ms. Nguyen Van Hanh Thuc, noted that the balance is relatively stable for workers with no specialized technical skills and those with mid-level qualifications. However, there is a substantial deficit in skilled technical production workers, with 15,087 positions available but only 4,167 applicants.

In stark contrast, the number of university graduates seeking employment significantly outnumbers available positions, with 6,936 graduates competing for just 2,297 openings. This situation confirms the market's need for direct production technicians while simultaneously creating a challenging environment for university graduates to find employment aligned with their qualifications. Over the first six months of the year, the center assisted 364,643 individuals with career advice and job matching, successfully placing 6,687 people.

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Meanwhile, the number of job seekers with university degrees significantly exceeds recruitment demand (6,936 job seekers but only 2,297 positions available). This shows that the market is lacking direct production technical labor, and at the same time, university-educated labor continues to face competitive pressure to find suitable employment.