HCM City: 230,000 workers return to factories

More than 1,300 companies and factories in export processing zones (EPZs), industrial parks (IPs) and hi-tech parks (HTPs) in Ho Chi Minh City, or 92 percent of the total, have reopened so far, according to the HCM City Export Processing Zone and Industrial Park Authority (HEPZA).

Notably, all 85 enterprises at Saigon Hi-tech Park have resumed operation, the HEPZA announced on October 19. More than 230,000 workers, about 70 percent of the total workforce in EPZd, IPs and HTPs, have returned to factories.

The local factories have yet to reach their full capacity to ensure production to be resumed safely. More workers are expected to return in the coming time as firms are gradually expanding operation.

The HEPZA said HCM City has 17 EPZs, IPs and HTPs which house nearly 1,500 factories with more than 320,000 workers. When social distancing order was put in place in the city from July 15 – September 30, over 820 factories had to suspend operation, affecting more than 244,000 workers.