Vietnamese companies are facing a shortage of qualified employees, and the national skills gap is leading to stagnation and lack of productivity. The country’s businesses have been experiencing shortages, especially in skilled trades such as IT and other tech-related industries. Ngo Duc Tri, general director of Global Cybersoft Vietnam, says his company has had to decline orders due to a lack of employees to fill them. The tech market in the country has great potential, he says, but limited staff makes it unable to keep up with demand. Vo Quang Hue, general director of Robert Bosch Vietnam, says Vietnam needs to make employee vocational training a priority to meet the immediate demands placed on high-level tech firms by foreign investors. Another issue, according to Yasuzumi Hiro, the managing director of the Vietnam branch of the Japan External Trade Organization, is that historically, Vietnamese businesses did not focus on technology, so the human capital in the country is not available. As a result, the country will need to make a significant investment in training to get the workforce up to speed.