Ho Chi Minh City is struggling with a shortage of workers following the easing of Covid-19 lockdown measures, endangering efforts to restart the country’s export-led economy after a record third-quarter drop in gross domestic product.

Companies in the southern business hub, a big supplier of garments, textiles, footwear, furniture and other products to global brands ranging from Ikea and Walmart to Nike and Adidas, were having trouble resuming normal work because so many people have left, businesspeople and analysts said.

During the strict lockdown, imposed by Communist authorities in and around Ho Chi Minh City after it became the centre of the country’s severest yet Covid-19 outbreak, many migrants were prevented from working by restrictions on factory work and movement between the districts and provinces that make up the megacity.