Labor market 2024: “green jobs” flourish

Recently, a Korean leather and footwear company in Dong Nai province posted a recruitment for the position of sustainability engineer. The job description is to collect environmental performance data from factories, build and operate energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives, deliver reports on sustainable development activities, train and improve sustainable development capacity for teams, etc.

The company requires candidates with expertise in environmental science, engineering or other related fields.

Major partners demand green standards

Recently, many recruitment requests for positions related to ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) have appeared on recruitment networks. For example, PNJ Company is recruiting a senior ESG specialist with a job description of all ESG-related tasks such as: developing policies and procedures for assessing ESG risks in PNJ’s production and retail, developing environmental, social and governance monitoring and measurement criteria, project management, coordination or support for ESG activities that the company implements…

On recruitment networks, job postings looking for people with expertise related to green jobs are very diverse, from HSE (Health-Safety-Environment) specialists, QSHE (with an additional Q-quality factor for HSE) to environmental engineers, CSR (social responsibility) specialists, and wastewater treatment team leaders.

Many companies recruit for “integrated” positions including CSR – social responsibility, RSL (banned chemicals list) and other jobs related to activities to reduce environmental and social impacts, promote green solutions…

Mr. Nguyen Vinh Thuy, head of human resources at Duy Tan Plastic Production Joint Stock Company, said that “green jobs” have existed for a long time in large enterprises. For many years, Duy Tan Company has had HSE departments – in charge of safety – health – environment, technology department, social responsibility department…

“These departments operate and control standards related to the environment, labor safety as well as regulations to protect workers. Duy Tan’s partners are multinational corporations, they require green criteria in the production process, so these standards are monitored, evaluated and integrated into annual reports.

Recently, the company has started to popularize and implement ESG standards, and the personnel for this field are often graduates of environmental majors,” said Mr. Thuy.

Many large companies in the garment industry are also “greening” and therefore need a green workforce. A representative of Duc Giang Corporation (Dugarc) said:

“There is currently no official “environmentally friendly” standard for the fashion manufacturing industry. The company follows a number of important “green” criteria in the industry such as using sustainable raw materials (prioritizing organic fabrics, fabrics from natural fibers, recycled fabrics, etc.), environmentally friendly production processes (using renewable energy, reducing carbon emissions), circular design to create garments with longer lifespans, recyclable and repairable, etc.

These are standards that meet increasingly high fashion criteria, regeneration and emission reduction, helping to improve the position of businesses, increase market share and create more added value.

With the advice of the “green staff” team, Duc Giang Company improved its production and business to save 10% of electricity capacity, 20% of water usage, and 5-10% of raw materials compared to normal production processes. This enterprise also limits the use of paper documents in meetings and does not use plastic bottles and packaging. Installing rooftop solar panels in factories provides 20-30% of electricity in production, switching from coal-fired boilers to electric boilers…

Millions of “green jobs” needed

Ms. Nguyen Thanh Huong, National Human Resources Director (ManpowerGroup Vietnam), said that since 2021, ManpowerGroup has introduced ESG reports to customers and partners globally. The demand for green jobs is increasing, leading to the emergence of many new ESG-related positions. The number of green jobs is increasing, corresponding to the emergence of many new ESG-related positions.

“55% of employees participating in a survey said that a business’s DEIB (diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging) commitments are an extremely important factor to them when evaluating an employer,” said Ms. Huong.

Also according to ManpowerGroup, in the period 2015-2022, the rate of need for “green human resources” increased from 9.6% to 13.3% of total labor recruitment demand. It is estimated that by 2050, the global market will have more than 300 million job positions requiring “green skills”.

Ms. Cao Le Thanh Loan – Director of Outsourcing and Labor Outsourcing Services in the South, ManpowerGroup Vietnam – said: The top 5 ESG roles globally include positions related to the environment, health and safety (59%), physical and mental well-being (39%), sustainable development (39%), recycling and waste management (37%) and ecosystem and biodiversity management (33%). ManpowerGroup Vietnam has connected hundreds of recruitment, labor outsourcing and outsourcing applications in the green job sector.

MSc. Nguyen Truc Van, Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Research and Development, cited research results from the World Bank and the General Statistics Office on green jobs, showing that Vietnam currently has 39 occupations with green jobs.

The sectors with the highest concentration of green jobs today are electricity, gas and water supply (23%), mining (5%), and market services (5%). Vietnam is greening its economy, so there will be 88 more occupations with the potential for green jobs in the future. It is forecasted that the number of green jobs could account for up to 41% of total jobs in the future market.

Green jobs are not just about the environment

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), green jobs are legitimate jobs that contribute to protecting or regenerating the environment. These are jobs in traditional sectors such as manufacturing and construction, or emerging ones such as renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Green jobs help improve energy efficiency and the use of raw materials, limit greenhouse gas emissions, minimize waste and pollution, protect and restore ecosystems, and support adaptation to the impacts of climate change.

At the firm level, green jobs can produce goods and provide services that benefit the environment. However, green goods and services can be valued based on their contribution to more environmentally friendly processes. For example, green jobs can reduce water consumption or improve recycling systems.