HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Enterprises nation-wide plan to enlarge their staff this year by up to 68 per cent over 2012, according to a report by recruitment website vietnamworks.com.

The website's first online employment report for 2013 is based on an annual survey of its customers.

In comparing 2013's first quarter to that of 2012, the company reported stability in the total number of job postings that it received.

"While this stability in total jobs may sound a little unexciting, we regard it as a great base for the rest of the year," said Carlton Pringle, Chief Executive Officer of VietnamWorks.

"2012 kicked off in a period of high inflation and general growth, and high wage inflation had more people moving jobs and so on, so our Q1 numbers reflected that 2013 commenced with the hangover of late-2012, and general economic malaise, so to return an almost identical quarter YOY is quite a solid foundation for a strong 2013.

"Further – and most encouragingly – we saw our best week in history at the end of February 2013, followed by a strong month in March with YOY 9 per cent growth in terms of job postings."

Other important findings show Ha Noi as the best city in the country to find a job at present, ahead of HCM City and Da Nang, according to a ratio that measures the number of listings to the working age population of the three major cities.

The best industries for young job seekers remain IT, notably software development in Da Nang, where job growth in this industry has tripled; electronics (up 28 per cent); consulting (up 32 per cent); textile and foot-wear (up 38 per cent); pharmaceuticals and bio-tech (up 66 per cent); and retail and wholesale (up 105 per cent). These industries have proved themselves recession-proof with all of them recording listing growth.

Various administrative/clerical sectors, marketing, and architecture/interior design have not fared as well, with declines of 38, 31 and 23 per cent, respectively. — VNS