Vietnam dodged the coronavirus bullet, so why are its workers struggling?
- For decades, millions of Vietnamese relied on the country’s export-oriented economy to provide them with work. Then the pandemic hit
- Now the country is bracing for its slowest growth in 20 years in spite of its relative success in containing the coronavirus
It’s about 10pm and she has already paid her 20,000 dong (86 US cents) entry fee, which includes use of the hammock cafe’s showers, plug sockets, Wi-fi, blankets and drinking water.
As trucks rumble past on the winding National Highway 1A through Ho Chi Minh City’s western Binh Tan District, she emerges from the washroom, having changed into a pair of bright yellow pyjamas, and gets ready to slump into bed.
The woman is 58-year-old Hien, one of the legions of migrant workers who have left their homes in Vietnam’s less-developed rural provinces over the past few decades in search of opportunity as the economy boomed.
Consistent growth propelled by communist leaders who began embracing market-oriented policies in the late 1980s has meant that those Vietnamese like Hien, who migrated from her home province of Phu Yen last year after her business there failed, have rarely struggled to find work.
