Nâng cao chất lượng nguồn nhân lực tại các khu công nghiệp thành phố hồ chí minh đến năm 2030 tt tiếng anh

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
_____________________

Major: Political Economics
Code: 9.31.01.02

TRAN THI HUYEN THANH

SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS IN ECONOMICS

Hanoi - 2020


The thesis has been completed at:
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Supervisors:
1. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Luu Ngoc Trinh
2. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Lan Huong

Reviewer 1:
Reviewer 2:
Reviewer 3:

The thesis shall be defenced before a Thesis Assessment Committee of
the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, at the Academy
At ……., dated …..

The thesis shall be accessible at:

-

Library of the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences

-

Vietnam National Library


INTRODUCTION
1. The Necessity of the Thesis: Since its establishment (1991) up to
now, export processing zones (EPZs) and industrial zones (IZs) in Ho Chi
Minh City (HCMC) have been actively contributing to the socio-economic
development of Ho Chi Minh City. That result is thanks to the great
contribution of human resources (HR). According to the Management Board
of EPZs and IZs in HCMC (Hepza), as by 2019, 17 EPZs and IZs being in
operation have attracted 1,603 investment projects with the total capital of
US$10.67 billion, providing jobs for 291,618 workers. However, HR in IZs
in HCMC still have many limitations, especially in terms of quality. The
untrained rate accounts for the majority of the labor force working in this
sector (76.6%) and the technology level of enterprises in IZs is still low,
making the city's IZs lack a lot of qualified and professional workers,
workers with high working skills, especially in high-tech industries such as
information technology, design, electronics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals,
etc. Consequently, the fact of not meeting the demand for high-qualified HR
has inhibited the increase in labor productivity and prevented the rapid and
sustainable development of IZs in HCMC.
Currently, HCMC is implementing economic restructure, including
industrial structure, towards modernization, saving fuel and materials, not
polluting the environment - requiring professional and qualified labor force.

To build HCMC to be a smart city in the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0,
extensive international integration and sustainable development, improving
HR quality is an urgent requirement today and that has become the top
concern of HCMC, especially in IZs. Therefore, I chose the theme
"Improving the Quality of Human Resources in Industrial Zones in Ho Chi
Minh city to 2030" as the theme for my Doctoral Thesis in Economics.
2. Research Objectives and Major Tasks
2.1. Objectives: To propose solutions and recommendations to
improve the quality of human resources in industrial zones in HCMC to
2030.
2.2. Major tasks: (i) To highlight a number of theoretical issues and
experiences of some countries on improving HR quality in IZs; (ii) To
analyze the status of HR and HR quality in IZs in HCMC; (iii) To propose
solutions and recommendations to improve HR quality in IZs in HCMC to
2030.

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3. Research Subject and Scope:
3.1. Research subject: To study theoretical, practical issues and to
propose solutions for improving the quality of human resources in industrial
zones of a province/city of a country.
3.2. Research scope: Time line: The period from 1991 to 2018-2019
and vision to 2030. Space limitation: EPZs and IZs (collectively referred to
as IZs) in HCMC; Contents: The thesis only focuses on the in-depth study
of the quality and the improvement of the quality of the labor division
directly engaged in production as a leading part accounting for 95% of the
workforce in IZs of HCMC, where exists many urgent issues about quality
and structure that significantly affect the process of construction and

sustainable development of IZs and the city needs to soon find ways to
solve. Nevertheless, while carrying out the research, other parts of the
human resources (such as management force in enterprises and industrial
zone management boards) were also mentioned reasonably as factors
affecting HR quality in general and the labor division directly engaged in
production in enterprises in HCMC industrial zones in particular.
The key research subject of the thesis is the Central Government and
HCMC government (in the macro perspective) and referring at a certain
degree to enterprises in HCMC IZs in relation to the construction of
industrial zones and improvement of HR quality in those IZs.
4. Methodology and Research Method of the Thesis
On the basis of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, the
thesis has used the following scientific research methods:
- Descriptive statistical method: The thesis uses (secondary) statistics
from official sources of both the central and HCMC and HCMC
Management Board of EPZs and IZs (Hepza); The data has been
synthesized to clarify the current situation of HR quality in IZs in HCMC.
- Analysis, comparison and synthesis methods: To refer to the
research works (books, journal articles, research projects, dissertations)
related to HR, HR quality in IZs in HCMC and some other localities. The
documents were used, analyzed, compared and synthesized to work out the
strengths and weaknesses of HR and HR quality in IZs in HCMC and their
major causes.

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- Survey by questionnaire: The author conducted a survey from
January 2018 to June 2018 at 400 enterprises of 12/17 IZs in HCMC with
three groups being surveyed by questionnaires: policy makers, enterprises

and workers, with a total of 1,070 questionnaires issued and 959 collected
back, making 89.6%, the valid questionnaires were 942/959, reaching
88.0%. The data were entered and processed by SPSS software.
5. New Academic Contributions by the Thesis. (i) Systematize
domestic and international theoretical issues on HR quality and improve HR
quality in industrial parks; (ii) Study influencing factors (from the State and
macro environment; factors belonging to enterprises; factors from
employees), propose a system of fundamental criteria to assess the quality
of human resources in IZs; (iii) Systematize the researches on the content of
HR quality and ways to improve it, also point out research gaps; (iv) Sum
up experiences from China, Taiwan (China), and Thailand in improving the
quality of human resources of enterprises in industrial zones and export
processing zones to draw lessons for HCMC, and to take as a practical basis
for the recommendations in the thesis.
6. Theoretical and Practical Meaning of the Thesis: (i) Review
overall human resources in industrial zones in HCMC; Analyze the factual
situation of HR quality in a multidimensional way in term of physical
strength, knowledge strength, mental strength and team coordination in IZs
in HCMC; (ii) Analyze the main problems and causes of low quality of
labor force in enterprises of IZs in HCMC; (iii) Identify and analyze the
contexts, objectives, viewpoints, directions and propose 4 groups of
solutions and a number of suitable and feasible recommendations to
improve HR quality for IZs in HCMC in the future; (iv) The scientific
interpretations and conclusions of the thesis could be a practical reference
for the government, the authorities of HCMC, including enterprises in IZs
and Hepza in planning and improving the HR quality in IZs Vietnam in
general and HCMC in particular to 2030; At the same time, the thesis can
also be used as a useful reference for State agencies, researchers, lecturers
and students of economic universities.
7. Structure of the Thesis: In addition to the Introduction,

Conclusions, List of Abbreviations, List of Tables, Diagrams, Charts, List
of References, and Appendices, the thesis consists of 4 chapters and 17 subsections.

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Chapter 1: OVERVIEW OF OTHER RESEARCHES RELATED TO
THE THESIS’ THEME
1.1. Main researches related to Industrial Zones and Export
Processing Zones
Regarding IZs, EPZs, both in the world and in Vietnam, there have
been a significant number of researches with diversified perspectives, but
basically agreed on the following main features: (i) Being an inseperatable
part of a country, usually appropriate geographically distinct zones, with a
border that restricts the remaining territories of the host country and is
allowed by the government to be built and developed; (ii) A place for
convergence and mutual adaptation of interests and a number of defined
goals between investors and host countries. That is a place where the
business environment is particularly suitable, enjoying free regimes and
economic preferential policies compared to the rest of the inland, and often
in a favorable position for the development of production and business; (iii)
A place having the top priority of outward policy, mainly attracting foreign
investment capital to develop various types of export business; Being a
miniature free area of open socio-economic policy of the host country.
1.2. Researches related to HR quality
1.2.1. Domestic researches on HR quality
1.2.1.1. Contents on HR quality
The common viewpoints of authors is that HR quality is the quality
of powers within each individual person, including physical strength,
knowledge and mental power, and to be used by them in the working

process. However, in addition to the HR quality of each individual, there
is also theỉr attachment to each collective, and HR quality is also reflected
by the structure, standard of labor division and labor cooperation among
individuals within that collective.
1.2.1.2. What is HR quality?
The quality of human resources (HR quality) means the capacity to
perform tasks and the degree of meeting job requirements. Job performance
is a combination of factors of work ability, used to execute and complete the
job. HR quality also implies collectivism (the ability to coordinate in the
team) and the demands for HR quality from employers using the labor.

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1.2.1.3. Regarding HR quality in IZs, up to now, there are two main
contents mostly discussed by authors: Firstly, to highlight the main factors
affecting HR quality in IZs in Vietnam; Secondly, to recommend solutions
to improve HR quality in IZs in Vietnam.
1.2.2. International researches
1.2.2.1. Contents and indicators for assessing HR quality: The
researches emphasize physical strength, intelligence, skills, working
manners and attitudes to be the basic indicators for measuring HR quality.
1.2.2.2. Regarding improvement of HR quality: The authors said that
improving HR quality is the gathering and promoting the working capacity
of employees to make countries, industries, localities and organizations
achieve the strategic goals. The most decisive contents of improving HR
quality are activities of training and developing human resources; activities
of maintaining and motivating human resources; and activities of attracting,
recruiting, selecting and arranging human resources.
1.2.2.3. Regarding human capital: The researches stated that the main

components of human capital (or HR quality) are knowledge, skills,
creativity, quality and practical experience, that is the result of investing in
education, training, medical services and health care, etc. Human capital is
not what will be available but what is accumulated within the employees
and can be sold. Human capital is used to measure the standard and
creativity of the labor force. Labor is the factor that can be exploited and
used immediately, while human capital should be not only exploited and
used, but also frequently accumulated, conserved and developed. Therefore,
while they both contribute to growth, but are two different quantities.
1.3. Overall review of domestic and international researches on
the thesis’ theme
1.3.1. Research gap: A number of main gaps can be drawn as
follows: (i) The researches all state that, among the three groups of factors
of HR quality, two groups of physical strength and knowledge have direct
assessment criteria, but the criteria for evaluating the group of mental power
are still incomprehensive, incomplete, and low-generalized; (ii) When
evaluating HR quality, the authors pay little attention or have not paid
adequate attention to the collectivity of the human resources but often focus
on individual employee's quality. Therefore, according to the thesis writer,
in order to have a comprehensive assessment of HR quality, it is necessary
to add indicators reflecting the collectivity of the human resources; (iii) The

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studies on HR quality often pay little attention to the needs of employers,
but favor the viewpoints of the HR supply, therefore, in order to have
comprehensive and appropriate solutions to improve quality of human
resources, it needs to start from the perspectives of the employers (ie the
aspect of HR demand); (iv) Improving HR quality also requires to create

qualified human resources that are responsive and willing to take part when
there are changes in the labor market as well as changes in the
organization's work in the future; (v) There has not been any
comprehensive, complete and intensive studies of systematization on HR
quality and improvement of HR quality in IZs in HCMC, except for a few
studies that have discussed a number of aspects related to human resources
and HR development in IZs in HCMC.
1.3.2. The research direction of the thesis
- Research approach: Studying HR quality in IZs in HCMC with two
components that is the quality of each individual employee and the quality
of the collective of individual employees as a working team for an identified
set of common goals.
- Method of assessing HR quality: Using 2 groups of indicators: (i)
Group of indicators reflecting quality of each employee; and (ii) Group of
indicators reflecting the collectivism of the human resources.
- Analytical framework: Description, analysis (i) highlight the
substance and structure of HR quality in IZs; (ii) clarify the system of
indicators to assess HR quality in IZs on both aspects: components of the
quality of individual employees and components of the quality the worker
collective; (iii) factors affecting HR quality in IZs; (iv) assess the factual
HR quality in IZs in HCMC by different methods and criteria; and (v)
basing on that, propose solutions and recommendations to improve HR
quality for IZs in HCMC to 2030.

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Image 1.1. Analysis Framework
Quality of collective
HR

QualityofindividualHR:physical
strength,knowledge,mental
power
Affecting factors:
State, enterprises,
workers
In’l experiences: Taiwan
(China), Thailand

International and
Domestic context

Criteria to assess physical,
knowledge, mental
strengths and coordination
among individuals

HR quality
Assess the current
situation of HR quality
in IZs in HCMC
Study HR quality in
IZs in HCMC till 2030

Objectives,
Viewpoints,
Orientations

Recommendations to

State, Ministries, HCMC

Solutions
(4 groups)

Source: Authors self – synthesizing and designing
1.4. Research questions and hypotheses
1.4.1. Reasearch questions: The thesis needs to answer the following
key research questions: (1) What are the key characteristics of HCMC IZs
and what are the requirements for HR quality and HR quality improvement?
(2) What are the key characteristics of HR quality of HCMC IZs, by what
criteria are they measured by and what actual factors are they affected by?
(3) Current situation of HR quality in HCMC IZs: What are strengths,
weaknesses (or limitations) and main causes? (4) How can we improve the
HR quality in industrial zones in HCMC while the economic, political,
social, science and technology conditions (both domestic and international)
are having strong fluctuations in the coming time?
1.4.2. Research hypotheses
(1) Being the largest economic, political, social and cultural center in
the country, HCMC always has a high growth rate, the ability to attract FDI
and S&T very strong, is the leading engine of innovation of the whole

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country, to facilitate the strong development of industrial zones requires
better and better human resources;
(2) The fundamental characteristics of human resources in HCMC IZs
are large scale, mainly young workers with good health, but limited skills,
lack of skilled labor, their skill levels are low and lack of professionalism,

not meeting the development requirements of HCMC industrial zones and
businesses.
(3) HCMC IZs shall not be able to improve their competitiveness, or
meet the requirements of the new S&T Revolution, of the era of
globalization, comprehensive and in-depth international integration, and of
economic restructuring of HCMC in the direction of modernity and
sustainability, if the State, HCMC, enterprises in industrial zones and
workers do not have crutial measures to develop and improve the quality of
human resources of HCMC in general and of HCMC IZs in particular.

Chapter 2: THEORETICAL FOUNDATION AND EXPERIENCES
OF A NUMBER OF COUNTRIES ON IMPROVING THE QUALITY
OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN INDUSTRIAL ZONES
2.1. HR Quality in Industrial Zones
2.1.1. Concept of HR: Human resources are derived from human
power, while that is the total of strengths within an individual forming his or
her working capacity, being used by them in the working process; human
resources refers to a group of people, each of whom has a different role, but
links together to achieve a common goal. At macro level, the concept of
human resources is considered in both broad and narrow aspects.
At micro level, the concept of human resources of an organization
includes the following main contents: (1) Human resources of an
organization are the resources of people working in that organization,
including: (a) Resources of each individual such as physical strength,
knowledge and mental power; (b) The coordination among individuals in
the operation of the organization indicating the connection between
individuals in the work and production. (2) Among resources, human
resources is always the most important and decisive factor of an
organization because it determines the ability to perform the work, as well
as the efficiency of using other resources in achieving the goals set out.

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2.1.2. Concept of HR quality. According to the author, “HR quality is
the (internal) power within human resources that constitutes their working
capacity that can satisfy the existing and potential (or future) needs of
employers ”.
The connotations of the concept of HR quality consist of: (a) Two
components constitute the quality of human resources: (i) Quality of each
individual employee includes physical strength, knowledge and mental
power; and (ii) Quality of the collective of those individuals; (b) Human
resources must be able to meet the needs (both present and future) of
employers.
2.1.3. HR quality in Industrial Zones. The quality of human
resources in industrial zones is the total of internal power of the human
resources that constitute the working capacity of this labor force, making
them able to meet the current and future needs of enterprises in the IZs.
Such quality is reflected in the quality of each individual employee working
in IZs and the quality of the coordination between individuals in the process
of performing duties of enterprises in IZs. Specifically: (i) most of the
employees working in the enterprises in IZs are / or are related to industries,
need to have the quality of industrial labor force and that is relatively higher
than other industrial production zones; (ii) in addition to being influenced
by the nature of industries and the technology standard of the IZs, HR
quality in IZs are also influenced by many factors related to the life of
employees; (iii) The quality of human resources in industrial zones is the
most important factor that determines the success or failure of attracting
investment for the development of IZs, and in turn, IZs contribute to the
overall socio-economic development of the whole region and the whole

country; (iv) Human resources in IZs are always respected, paid attention,
highly appreciated, prioritized in investment (by the State, enterprises as
well as employees themselves) to develop and improve the quality.
2.1.4. Improve HR quality in Industrial Zones. In order to improve
HR quality in IZs, it requires: (i) The continuous efforts of each employee to
improve themselves both physically, professionally and mentally; (ii) The
active investment and support of enterprises and the Management Board of
Industrial Zones in order to create the best environment and conditions for
human resources to develop; (iii) The State and local governments must
have reasonable mechanisms, policies and measures on labor in term of
education and training, to create and develop a healthy labor market, as well
as create conditions for enterprises to well manage human resources and for

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employees themselves to improve their own quality. Improving the quality
of human resources in industrial parks is a combination of suitable
organized and oriented solutions.
2.2. Criteria to assess HR quality in Industrial Zones
2.2.1. Criteria for physical assessment: (i) Criteria on height and
weight; (ii) Health classification criteria (to measure both physical and
health status as well as disease status or working capacity of employees.
2.2.2. Criteria for knowledge assessment: This is the most important
group of indicators to assess the quality of human resources in industrial
zones and includes: (1) Indicators to measure educational level; (2)
Indicators to measure technical / professional level; (3) Skill measurement
criteria (technical skills; social skills; and general skills and strategic
thinking); and (4) Expertise measurement criteria.
2.2.3. Criteria for mental assessment: Including the following main

criteria: (i) Working style and discipline. (ii) Degree of dedication to the job
and to the organization. (iii) Awareness and readiness of HR to respond to
changes in work. (iv) Assessment of working psychology. (v) Ability to work
under pressure.
2.2.4. Quality assessment criteria for the coordination among
individual workers: People often rely on the following main criteria: (i)
Number of group meetings in a given time period; (ii) Number of opinions
expressed by members in each group meeting; (iii) Number of tasks being
solved by the group together; (iv) Ability to share and support information
processing among group members; (v) Quality of work done by the group
compared to work performed by individuals; (vi) Speed of decision
making and work performing by the group compared to individuals; (vii)
Creativity level of teamwork; (viii) Stability or sustainability of the group.
2.3. Main factors affecting HR quality in Industrial Zones
2.3.1. Factors belonging to the State and macro environment: (1)
International factors; (2) State and local undertakings, policies and laws; (3)
Quality of the education and training system; (4) Socio-economic
development in localities where IZs are located; (5) Labor market for IZs;
(6) The development status of the medical and healthcare system.
2.3.2. Impacts of the factors from enterprises: (1) Characteristics of
enterprises inside IZs; (2) Training activities in enterprises; (3) Policies on
recruiting and using HR in enterprises; (4) Motivation policies; (5) Working

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conditions and environment in enterprises; and (6) Nutrition and health care
conditions for employees.
2.3.3. Impacts of the factors from employees: HR quality is also
more or less influenced (directly or indirectly) by factors such as gender,

age, culture, ethnicity, region or genes of workers.
2.4. Lessons learnt in improving HR quality in Industrial Zones
and Export Processing Zones in some Asian economies (China, Taiwan
(China) and Thailand)
2.4.1. Sucessful stories: (i) Human resource development strategy
must be one step ahead; (ii) Create favorable and equal conditions for all
workers, including immigrants; (iii) Education and Training is considered as
the most important measure that can improve HR quality both in the short
and long terms. At the same time, it is necessary to create favorable
conditions to open private schools from kindergartens to high schools; (iv)
Create favorable conditions (such as financial support, land lease, tax
exemption, ...) to attract domestic and foreign research institutes, scientific
companies and universities to IZs for research, technology transfer and HR
training.
2.4.2. Unsuccessful stories: (i) The construction and development
of IZs should not be too fast, isolated from the conditions of infrastructure
and human resources; (ii) Since establishment, it has not focused on solving
social security issues (housing, kindergartens, schools, hospitals, etc.) of
workers.

Chapter 3: FACTUAL SITUATION OF THE QUALITY OF HUMAN
RESOURCES IN IZs IN HCMC
3.1. Overview of HRs in IZs in HCMC
3.1.1. Process of establishment and development of IZs in HCMC.
By 2019, HCMC had 17/19 EPZs, IZs being fouded and put into operation,
the area of land for lease reached 1,544.43 ha, getting 60% occupancy rate,
using 291,618 laborers. The goal of the IZs is to attract investment in key
industries according to the city's development orientation, such as electricity
- electronics, chemicals, mechanics, food and foodstuff refinement
processing, creating motivation for the solid and long term development of

the city.

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3.1.2. Role of IZs in HCMC during nearly 30 years of establishment
and development. After nearly 30 years of establishment and development,
HCMC IZs have contributed significantly to the target of attracting
investment capital, creating jobs, changing economic structure, improving
technical and managerial levels, contributing to boosting economy and
export, and raising the city’s budget revenue.
3.1.3. Limitations and challenges to IZs in HCMC
Firstly, most of the investment projects are of small scale. The
number of projects with advanced technology, high levels of gray matter
and high added value accounts for a low proportion. Secondly, the quality of
planning and implementation has not met development requirements.
Thirdly, SI and the level of product localization are still low. Fourthly, IZs
are mainly developed according to the multi-industry model, so enterprises
in IZs do not have the link to create a large-scale production cluster in order
to raise the added value of products. Fifth, the lives of workers still face
many difficulties. Sixthly, some industries have backward technology,
causing pollution from relocating from the city to the industrial zone.
Seventhly, the management model under the "one-door, on-site" mechanism
up to now has many shortcomings, because the IZ is only regulated at the
Decree level, has not been institutionalized at the Law level.
3.1.4. HR at IZs in HCMC. The labor force in IZs is mostly young
workers with an average age of 18 to 25. By 2019, HCMC IZs have
attracted 291,618 laborers, of which female workers are 171,161
(accounting for 60.45%). The number of laborers in FDI enterprises is
207,819 (73.4%), in Vietnamese enterprises is 75,306 (26.6%). Workers

from the provinces is 193,641 (68.4%).
Regarding the occupational structure, the so-called hi-tech
professions requiring labor with a high level of suitable technical and
professional qualifications are mechanics, electricity and electronics account
for only 1/5 (20.5 %) of the total number of workers in HCMC IZs, while
industries requiring low and medium technology, consuming a lot of manual
and heavy labor with low and medium technical qualifications, include
textiles, footwear, food processing, wood and wood processing, or
chemicals, plastics and rubber account for over 1/2 (57.4%).
3.2. Factual HR quality in HCMC IZs
3.2.1. Factual HR quality in physical term

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(1) Height and weight: In terms of height, they have reached the
national average and and nearly touched the standard (168.2cm for men and
157.1cm for women, respectively) in comparison with the target for 2030.
In terms of weight, there are potentially worrying signs about weight health.
(2) Health classification. According to the survey results, the health and
fitness of the human resources are most appreciated by business owners.
The percentage of enterprises thinking that the health status and fitness of
the human resources may meet 90-100% of the businesses’ needs accounts
for 61.5%, while meeting 90-95% to be 23.5% and meeting 95-100% to be
38.0%, only 2.5% of the respondents said that the health and fitness of
human resources can only meet less than 80% of the needs of businesses.
This proves the fact that the human resources in HCMC IZs have very good
physical quality.
3.2.2. Factual HR quality in term of knowledge
(1) Education level. The human resources in HCMC IZs, along with

Hanoi and Bac Ninh, have relatively high level of education, with the
number of high school graduates accounting for 84.1%, much higher than
that of Danang (only 49.62%). However, since the establishment of Tan
Thuan EPZ, up to now, HR quality in HCMC IZs has been slow or little
fluctuation: employees with primary and lower secondary education usually
fluctuate between 40-44%.
(2) Technical expertise of human resources. According to Hepza,
unskilled labor accounts for the majority of the labor force in the city's IZs,
being mainly in the textile, footwear, electronics and mechanics industries.
Among 283,125 laborers working in HCMC IZs in 2018, although the
trained workers accounted for 95.7% (271,034 people), but the number of
self-trained by enterprises through short courses taking the majority, up to
70% (198,181 people). Regarding training form, the proportion of
employees in the IZs of the city having professional training is 50.3% (ie,
formal training) is basically equal to the proportion of workers not having
formal training (for example in-service and on-site training is 49.1%). It is
worth noting that the number of skilled workers, from intermediate
vocational level upwards, was not only fluctuated but also decreased in
recent years.
Such actual degree of technical expertise of human resources in
HCMC IZs recently is due to: (i) Basically, most of the industrial zones in
HCMC has yet to escape the status of being an attractive and active area of

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labor-intensive industries and technologies; (ii) Perhaps the enterprises have
not got sufficiently attractive measures and incentives to keep their
employees to stay long and readily and voluntarily learn to improve their
technical and professional qualifications and skills; (iii) Although some

enterprises have invested in modern technologies and equipment, the
operation of those technologies and equipment is very simple, requiring
only unskilled and simple labor instead of workers with high education level
or high professional and technical qualifications and skills. (iv) The public
education and training system of Vietnam in general and HCMC in
particular has not had significant improvement, it is still heavy in theory and
little in practice.
Therefore, such professional and technical qualification has not
been appreciated by businesses. The number of responding enterprises,
which stated that technical and professional qualification of employees in
industrial zones in HCMC meeting more than 95% of the enterprises’
demands only accounts for 9.4%, while up to 36.0% of enterprises
responded that the technical and professional qualification of employees
only met less than 85% of their demands.
(3) Working skills. It can be said that this is the worst criterion in
the eyes of businesses, still far below the businesses’ requirements. .
(4). Working experience. The fact shows that like most of industrial
zones nationwide, firstly, the seniority of working continuously in the
current industrial zones, enterprises and at the current jobs of employees in
HCMC IZs is generally low; Secondly, the percentage of "job-hopping" to
find a better workplace and job is very high.
3.2.3. Factual HR quality in mental term.
Regarding the mental power shown in the consciousness, attitude,
manner and discipline of employees in HCMC IZs, up to 48.1% of
enterprises thought that this quality of employees in HCMC IZs met up to
over 90% of the businesses’ demands. This figure is relatively positive, and
in fact, there has been a significant improvement and won a fairly high
rating of businesses, especially if we consider it in the context of a large
percentage (up to 70%) of labor in HCMC IZs originating from agriculture
and rural areas, still carrying the working style of farmers, not having the

industrial working style. However, there are still 51.9%, i.e. more than half
of the responding enterprises, which stated that consciousness, attitude,
manner and discipline of employees only met less than 90% of the work

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requirements. This means that the improvement in consciousness, attitude,
quality and working style of employees is not yet sustainable, and it is easy
to break into negative phenomena when conditions permit.
3.2.4. Factual HR quality to be assessed basing on the coordination
to carry out the task. The author's 2018 survey results on the status of
coordination among working team are generally quite positive, with the
majority (up to 72.6%) of the responsding employees in HCMC Izs, of
whom, 46.5% (223/501 respondents) and 26.1% (113/501 respondents)
respectively said that the cooperation among the group members was
“Tight and Very tight".
3.3. Factual factors affecting HR quality in HCMC IZs
3.3.1. Factors from the State and macro environment
3.3.1.1. Legal, institutional and policy factors of the State and
HCMC. (1) Policies to attract investment to develop industrial zones: Up to
now, attracting capital has often been underlooked, modern technology and
equipments have received little attention, but it is often aimed to quickly fill
up the industrial zones and create more jobs. (2) Policies to develop
industrial zones in HCMC: (i) HCMC is still inexperienced and unable to
orient correctly right from the beginning; (ii) At the same time, the
construction of EPZs and IZs takes place with the policy of attracting as
much capital as possible to "fill up" the EPZs and IZs. As a result, the
technologies that are put into use in the IZs of HCMC are basically
processing, assembling and using a lot of unskilled labor, consuming much

fuel and causing environmental pollution. The selection criteria are usually
young, healthy, graduating from at least junior high school, disciplined,
conscious, being able to long-term attach to businesses. As a result, the
majority of laborers in HCMC IZs are unskilled labor with low technical
qualification; (3) Plans for development of HCMC IZs: + The first problem
is that the quality of industrial zone plans and the implementation of the
approved plans has not yet met the development requirements. + The
implementation of the city's approved IZ plans is still limited, not yet firmly
exploiting the high efficiency of the city's potential, capabilities and central
locationto attract high technology and origin technology investment.
3.3.1.2. HCMC’s policy to develop HR in IZs
There is also a mismatch between the industrial zone development
plans and the economic restructuring strategy and the human resources
training strategy of the city. Also, the IZ development plans are not

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attaching with the human resource development plans, and the training
strategy does not follow the economic restructuring strategy of HCMC in
general and of IZs in particular.
3.3.1.3. Training quality in Vietnam and in HCMC. There are still
many inadequacies. Specifically, there is an imbalance between professional
knowledge being trainned with practical requirements at the enterprises. As
a result, up to 90% of workers being recruited to work in enterprises at
HCMC IZs have to be re-trained by businesses in order to meet the work
requirements.
3.3.1.4. Factual development situation of the labor market in HCMC.
Objectively speaking, the labor market in HCMC in all types of professional
and technical qualification and all types of occupations, has not yet met the

recruitment requirements of HCMC’s enterprises.
3.3.2. Factors from enterprises
3.3.2.1. Training at enterprises. In fact, the training activities of
enterprises in HCMC IZs, so far, still have many problems and
shortcomings, both in terms of subjects and forms, as well as training
duration.
3.3.2.2. Enterprises’ policies for recruitment and work arrangement:
(i) Recruitment of enterprises in HCMC Izs is not or little effective. (ii)
Work arrangement for recruited employees are not really reasonable.
3.3.2.3. Remuneration and motivation policies of enterprises to their
employees
Regarding salary and income policies, although remuneration and
income are basically consistent with the quality of employees, but in the
context of annual increase in inflation, the income of employees is still (i)
discouraging employees to stick with enterprises, and/or be dedicated to
work; (ii) forced them to find ways to work overshift, overtime, and extra
time to make up the income shortage, leaving workers with insufficient time
and money to participate in recreational activities, health rehabilitation, or
training and upgrading activities to improve their skills and improve HR
quality; and (iii) willing to change jobs, if other organizations may pay
higher salaries.
3.3.2.4. Working conditions and environment: In fact, most projects in
industrial zones in HCMC still only use old and outdated technologies, which
are discharged from the restructuring process in the developed industrial

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nations, that is mainly processing, assembling and labor-intensive technology,
leading to the fact that the HR quality in HCMC IZs is generally not high,

which makes the productivity of workers and business efficiency of
enterprises also low. In addition, workers in HCMC IZs are always under
pressure to work overtime and with high intensity.
3.3.2.5. Living, nutrition and health care conditions for workers.
Unfortunately, the conditions (health care, housing, schools, kindergartens,
community activities, ...) only meet a very small part of the needs of
workers in industrial zones, that, therefore, has affected negatively the
physical, mental and health life of laborers and their families.
3.3.2. Factors from workers
First of all, youth and physical strength are one of the fundamental
advantages of the labor force in enterprises of HCMC IZs, but the education
level, professional and technical qualification are not high. At the same
time, their training structure is significantly mismatched or incompatible
with the industry structure and the assigned job. The percentage of workers
from outside the city is about 60-70%, although they are very diligent and
hard-working, but their vision is limited, with heavy psychology of small
farmers, their working style is not professional, not immediately adaptable
to industrial style in industrial zones if not being retrained, their working
experience in industrial zones is little, also their loyalty to businesses,
attachment to work and cooperation spirit are low.
3.4. Assessment on HR quality at IZs in HCMC
3.4.1. Strengths and achievements: (i) The city, the Management
Board and enterprises at IZs as well as the training institutions are
increasingly aware of the importance of quality and improvement of HR
quality for the economic development of the city and enterprises in
industrial zones as well as strengths and limitations of human resources in
HCMC IZs. (ii) Hepza has made great efforts and actively created to
favorable environment (in political, cultural, social... terms) for HR
development, helping them feel secure to work, attach to enterprises, ... (iii)
Human resources in enterprises at HCMC IZs are at the "golden age" with

good health, physical strength and educational level, which is considered to
be high compared to the common level of the whole country, and having the
mind quickly responding to new things; (iv) The size of labor force,
especially high-skilled workers, is constantly increasing over the years; (v)
All State, the city and businesses all have guidelines, measures and efforts

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to pay attention to improving the lives of employees both inside and outside
the fence of the industrial zones; (vi) Activities of education and training,
fostering and improving professional and technical skills, working skills
training have been taken care by the city’s government, Hepza and
enterprises; (vii) The city’s government, businesses and political
organizations have also cooperated quite well in disseminating laws,
training for working ethics, working style and discipline, encouraging the
creativity and activeness of workers; (viii) HCMC is a major center of
economy, politics and culture of the whole country, therefore, attracting
laborers to work in the city, including in industrial zones, is still very
significant. That is one of the favorable conditions for enterprises in the IZs
as they have the opportunity to recruit high quality and suitable human
resources.
3.4.2. Limitations and weaknesses to overcome: (i) The proportion
of unskilled labor is still large, while the scale and percentage of workers
having technical and professional training increase slowly, or even tends to
decrease, therefore skilled workers still account for a small proportion of the
total number of employees in HCMC IZs; (ii) Similar to other IZs, the labor
structure in HCMC IZs is unreasonable and unsustainable, because female
and migrant workers still predominate; (iii) Enterprises in HCMC IZs are
always in the situation of insufficient supply, and the structure of training,

career and capacity are also unreasonable; (iv) Many enterprises in HCMC
IZs are facing with many difficulties in recruiting skilled workers,
especially in some typical industries; (v) The working skills of human
resources in HCMC IZs are just above average and still far below the
requirements, especially soft skills; (vi) Currently, the HR quality has not
yet met the requirements of the process of economic restructuring towards
modern technology, less pollution. The amount of labor meeting the needs
of developing high-tech industries is insufficient and difficult to recruit.
3.4.3. Main reasons for the limitations
a. Causes from the State and the macro environment: (i) Up to now,
in fact, the strategies and policies for developing industrial zones of both the
Central Government and HCMC have not really focused on attracting
projects investing in building up industries with high levels of technology
and technics, but basically still inclining to fill up the industrial zones and
create jobs. (ii) There is no close connection between the economic
development strategies and the strategies for developing and improving the
HR quality; (iii) The training quality of the national and HCMC education

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system is still low, failing to meet the country's socio-economic
development requirements and the enterprises’ recruitment demands; (iv)
The labor market of HCMC has not met the needs of enterprises in
industrial zones.
b. Causes from enterprises: (i) Deficiencies of the vocational training
system in industrial zones and enterprises; (ii) The connection between
enterprises and education and training institutions, especially vocational
training institutions, is often very loose; (iii) Enterprises mainly focus on
recruiting unskilled and cheap labor, so the quality of input human resources

is not high, even declines relatively; (iv) The regime of remuneration is low
and inadequate, does not ensure reproduction of labor capacity, negatively
affects the health and fitness of workers, does not create the incentive to
encourage employees to work for a long term and dedicatedly with
businesses; (v) Working environment and conditions are unsatisfactory, the
technology and equipment used in enterprises are generally low, using
intensive labor, causing long working time, large labor intensity,
unscientific schedule, easy to cause occupational diseases, weaken the
employees' physical strength, leading to the decline of HR quality of
enterprises themselves; (vi) Living conditions (physically and mentally)
have not been adequately paid attention, nutrition and health care services
have not been implemented well, accommodation and social welfare
facilities are inadequate or in uncertain conditions.
(c) Causes from workers. (i) The vision of the employees themselves
is quite limited, not fully and properly aware of the assigned work, of the
role of learning and training to strengthen fitness, improve
technical/professional qualifications, working skills and ethics, working
style, that leads to measures and activities to improve the HR quality in
HCMC IZs not as effective as expected; (ii) Employees are still passive, not
proactive and active in preparing for their future (from choosing an industry,
choosing a career to learn to choosing a job, a place to work).

Chapter 4: VIEWPOINTS, ORIENTATIONS AND SOLUTIONS TO
IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF HUMAN RESOURCES IN
INDUSTRIAL ZONES IN HCMC TO 2030
4.1. Development context of HCMC IZs to 2030
4.1.1 World economic context. (1) The world economy is expected to
continue developing with the strong application of S&T achievements, with

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the focus on Industry Revolution 4.0, in order to improve labor productivity
and the quality of human life. Artificial intelligence and industrial robots
gradually replacing human labor, and not polluting the environment will be
the mainstream. The percentage of workers with technical and professional
qualifications is increasing, although it depends on the type of industry. At
the same time, many jobs, first of all the manual, simple, heavy, and
dangerous jobs (such as textiles, footwear, seafood processing, etc.) will be
reduced and replaced by robots; (2) The method of working and managing
is also different from before; (3) Globalization and international integration
continue to take place strongly and extensively, a series of new generation
of free trade agreements (FTAs) are introduced, including labor-related
provisions such as wages, working conditions and workers' rights (including
the right to form independent unions). Human resources, especially highquality human resources, will be able to freely move among countries, first
of all between countries of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). That,
on the one hand, creates a fierce competition to retain and attract human
resources, on the other hand, forces countries, businesses and each
individual employee to strive to find ways to improve the quality of human
resources according to international and regional standards. Otherwise,
Vietnam's human resources could be out of work in their home country, and
they might not take advantage of favorable job opportunities abroad or new
jobs brought by new industries.
4.1.2. Domestic context for socio-economic development. In the next
decade, Vietnam's economy will continue its growth trend at a high rate and
will create many new jobs. But notably, the shift to jobs requiring higherquality human resources of new industries and services using increasingly
modern S&T achievements and equipment is a prominent trend. Along with
the economic development, people's lives have gradually improved, along
with extensive exchanges and international integration, making the
perception of democracy, rights and interests of workers also changed, the

relationship and working environment in enterprises will also be different.
4.1.3. Context for socio-economic development in HCMC
4.1.3.1. Economic development context in HCMC. Striving to achieve
the average economic growth in the period of 2021 - 2025 from 8.5% 9.0% / year, 1.5 times higher than the average growth rate of the whole
country, bringing GDP per capita of HCMC people by PPP to be
USD13,340 - 14,285 in 2025. To be able to achieve such development
targets, the industrial development orientation of HCMC to 2025 and

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vision to 2030 focuses on developing advantaged industries in the
following priority order: (i) Mechanical engineering industry; (ii)
Electronics - information technology, telecommunications; (iii) Chemical
industry; and (iv) Food and beverage processing industry. HCMC shall
prioritize these industries and encourage investment in EPZs and IZs in
the city’s area.
4.1.3.2. Development context of Industrial Zones in HCMC. By 2025
and even to 2030, HCMC will continue developing high-tech industrial
zones, gradually converting multi-functional and multi-industry IZs into
specialized IZs; focus production in the industrial zones that have been
planned; developing supporting industries for mechanics, electronics informatics; restricting new labor-intensive investment projects, prioritizing
expansion and new investments in high-qualified industries and
technologies employing quality labor.
4.1.3.3. HR demands of HCMC. Along with the development of the
city’s economy, the demands for human resources also have certain
fluctuations. According to forecasts from now to 2030, the average demand
for manpower in HCMC is about 270,000 - 280,000 jobs each year
(including over 130,000 new ones). In which, the demands for trained
human resources account for 85%, the percentage of skilled workers at

intermediate level accounts for 33%, elementary and technical workers
account for 18%, workers with college degrees account for 15%, workers
with university degree accounts for 17%, and post-graduate workers account
for 2%. Such demand for human resources of the city continue to be met by
the influx of migrants of working age, with the education background
mainly of upper secondary, lower secondary and primary.
4.2. Objectives and viewpoints to improve the HR quality in
HCMC IZs
4.2.1. Objectives. (1) General objectives: Addressing the problems of
HR and improving the HR quality in the current industrial zones in HCMC
to contribute to improving the competitiveness of enterprises in the
industrial zones, promoting the economic restructuring of the city in the
direction of developing advanced technologies and services, gradually
reducing labor-intensive technologies and industries causing environmental
pollution, raising the efficiency of using investment capital. (2) Specific
objectives: Providing specific solutions and recommendations to help the
State, including the HCMC authorities, as well as enterprises in HCMC IZs

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and IZ workers improve the HR quality (in terms of physical strength,
knowledge and mental power) with the appropriate structure and number to
meet the development needs of HCMC IZs in the context of international
integration and industrialization in the direction of modern and sustainable
development.
4.2.2. Viewpoints to improve HR quality in HCMC IZs
The improvement of HR quality for industrial zones in HCMC in the
coming time should be thoroughly grasped the following key points: (i) in
the development plan of human resources, raising the quality of human

resources should be one step ahead and the industrial zone development
plan should be implemented synchronizedly with the plan for HR
development; (ii) improving the quality of human resources in industrial
zones should be compatible with the technology level used by the
enterprises in industrial zones; (iii) it needs to have the cooperation and
participation of three subjects: the State, enterprises and employees in
improving the HR quality in HCMC IZs; (iv) education and training should
be considered as the most important solution to improve the HR quality in
general and in HCMC IZs in particular; (v) it needs to improve living
conditions and working environment for employees in the industrial zones;
and (vi) Strategies and policies for developing and improving the HR
quality must carry the integration factors.
4.3. Orientations to improve HR quality in HCMC IZs
Directions for developing human resources for industrial zones in the
integration context are proposed as follows: (i) The economic structure of
HCMC from now to 2030 will be the development of supporting industries,
high-tech and high-value-added industries such as electronics - informatics telecommunications, manufacturing mechanics, new materials, chemistry pharmacy, biology technology, food processing, and gradual reduction of
the number and scale of activities of labor-intensive industries in a
reasonable manner. The city needs to focus on developing sufficient
quantity and quality of labor for the above industries. (ii) Training soft skills
for employees is also an essential activity to improve the quality of human
resources for industrial zones in HCMC. (iii) Exploiting well and effectively
the "golden population" period of the city to mobilize the highest labor
supply for its socio-economic development, by incorporating closely and by
plans in the development of on-site human resources and attracting highquality human resources from both domestic and abroad; (iv) Out-of-city

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human resources shall remain the main supply source, therefore, HCMC

needs to focus on training and social security policies for out-of-city
employees to attract and stabilize this source of labor.
4.4. Some groups of major solutions to improve HR quality for
IZs in HCMC to 2030
4.4.1. Solutions in term of mechanism and policy
4.4.1.1. From the State: The State should complete the following
basic policies: First, the State needs to perfect policies to attract investment
in industrial zones; Secondly, the State should accelerate education and
training reforms; Thirdly, the State should encourage R&D activities in
enterprises.
4.4.1.2. From HCMC, two main tasks need to be well implemented:
Firstly, HCMC needs to perfect policies and plans for industrial zone
development to attract quality investment capital so as to improve the HR
quality. Secondly, HCMC should complete the mechanisms and policies to
develop human resources to provide suitable human resources for industrial
zones.
4.4.1.3. Mechanism, policy of enterprises in HCMC IZs. In order to
improve the quality of human resources, businesses need to renovate their
HR policies in two main directions: Firstly, it is necessary to consider
investing in HR development (instead of taking advantage of, exploiting the
young and cheap factors) as the most important policy. Secondly, it needs to
have an appropriate HR management policy in order to motivate employees
to voluntarily improve their technical and professional qualifications, skills
and professional working styles, and to attach themselves fully to
enterprises and be responsible for their jobs.
4.4.2. Solutions for training to improve HR quality for HCMC IZs
(1) Improve the state management institution for vocational training
activities; (2) Reform and improve the quality of vocational training in
HCMC; (3) Improve the quality of training activities in enterprises in
HCMC IZs in the following directions: Firstly, it is necessary to correctly

identify the enterprises’ training needs. Secondly, in order to really improve
the training quality and human resources quality, enterprises need to
conduct diversification of training forms, with priority given to those such
as mentoring, sending to training at prestigious formal training institutions,
attending seminars and conferences outside enterprises. Thirdly, reforming

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