HCM City (VNA) – To develop and enter global supplychains, the textile-garment industry needs to have strategies for developinghigh-quality human resources right from now, insiders said at a recent workshopin Ho Chi Minh City.

Pham Xuan Hong, Chairman of the HCM CityAssociation of Garment, Textile, Embroidery and Knitting (AGTEK), said at theevent on April 14 that textile-garment is not only a spearhead export industryof Vietnam but also one of the sectors generating the biggest numbers of jobs,about 2.5 million.

However, most of employees in the sector aremanual workers in charge of simple steps while the steps requiring technicalskills like dyeing or designing are facing a shortage of skilled workers.

Hong said the shortage of high-quality manpoweris also one of the reasons why local production of apparel materials remainsundeveloped and Vietnam has to depend on imported materials. Meanwhile, thesteps generating high added value like designing products and building brandsare still limited.

Although Vietnam is one of the five biggestapparel exporters in the world, global consumers haven’t known any Vietnamesefashion brands, he said.

Dr Pham Xuan Thu from the HCM City College ofForeign Economic Relations said only about 30 percent of over 6,000textile-garment businesses in Vietnam operate in textiles, including weaving,dyeing, printing and finishing fabric. Most the remaining firms make productsordered by foreign fashion brands. Only few of them are able to create theirown products, from manufacturing fabric, designing to making apparel.

Many companies still have to hire foreignexperts and technicians at high costs to be responsible for dyeing, completingfabric and designing products, thus augmenting production costs and reducingtheir products’ competitiveness compared to foreign rivals, he added.

Amidst growing integration and competition, toretain development and engage in global textile-garment value chains, thecountry needs to invest in training and improving manpower quality in anappropriate manner, participants in the workshop said.

Dr Thu said the textile-garment sector hasexpanded to a certain size and now it’s time for it to make changes in quality,which means switching to the stage creating more added value.

To do that, the sector has to restructure bothproduction and manpower, he noted, adding that only when labour qualityincreases can businesses make use of material sources well, raise labourproductivity and improve management capacity to boost their competitiveness.

He suggested them invest more in manpowertraining, recruit and give intensive training to committed employees, and offerappropriate salary and bonus to encourage workers to make self-improvement.

Another problem facing textile-garment companiesis that their employees tend to switch to other firms to look for betteropportunities after getting training and experience. Therefore, to keepemployees, aside from appropriate salary, businesses should also createconditions for workers to show their capacity, create a friendly workenvironment and pay attention to workers’ spiritual needs, Thu said.

At the workshop, AGTEK Chairman Hong also calledfor more active participation of State management agencies and training schoolsto boost training in the textile-garment industry.-VNA