Over 95% of workers return to work after 2026 Tet holiday
The Ministry of Home Affairs reported that the rate of workers returning to work after Tet holiday remains stable, thanks to businesses proactively implementing preferential and support policies before the holiday.
Strong surge in recruitment demand before Tet
The labor market before the Lunar New Year unfolded amid a clear increase in seasonal recruitment demand, concentrated in sectors serving production and consumption at year-end.
Production and export sectors such as textiles, footwear, electronics, and wood processing continued to recruit many unskilled and skilled workers to complete orders, mainly working in shifts and overtime. The commerce, services, and retail group saw the strongest recruitment growth for positions like sales, cashiers, delivery, warehousing, and logistics services to meet peak shopping demand.
The tourism, restaurant, and hotel recovered and generated recruitment needs for roles such as service staff, receptionists, housekeeping, chefs, tour guides, and tour operators. The information technology and digital transformation sector maintained stable demand for software engineers, cybersecurity experts, data specialists, and AI professionals. Additionally, finance, real estate, transportation-logistics, automotive industry, and health care also had certain recruitment needs.
According to quick reports from 19 out of 34 provinces, many businesses arranged workers to operate through Tet to ensure service supply and production progress. Sectors maintaining operations included accommodation, dining, transportation, fuel, healthcare, environmental sanitation, steel, thermal power...
Strengthening labor supply-demand connections
The Ministry of Home Affairs assesses post-Tet labor shortages as a cyclical phenomenon. To minimize production disruptions, the Ministry proactively monitored the situation before and after Tet 2026, directing localities to enhance labor supply-demand connections and stabilize the market.
Thanks to synchronized solutions, it is forecasted that in industrial zones in Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai..., the worker return rate will reach about 85% from February 23-25 and 95% in the last week of February 2026.
According to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, before and during the 2026 Lunar New Year, labor relations remained basically stable. The labor market continues to show positive signals, with the number of employed people reaching 52.4 million, an increase of 578,300 people (up 1.1%) from the previous year.
These figures indicate a more stable post-Tet labor picture in 2026, reflecting the effectiveness of care policies and coordination among businesses, trade unions, and management agencies in retaining workforces.
Hai Phong News