The rising cost of living in Vietnam's cities has slowed the decades-long "farm to factory" migration, prompting many workers to return to their hometowns in search of a more affordable and stable life. Although urban jobs offer higher wages, migrant workers struggle to save due to escalating expenses.
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00:00Nguyen Thi Hiep spent 16 years making shoes for brands like Nike and Adidas.
00:08She worked for Pochen, a Taiwanese company that's one of the largest shoe manufacturers
00:12in the world.
00:14Together with her husband, she built a life in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
00:32Like many in her generation, Hiep left her life in Vietnam's emerald countryside for
00:36the economic opportunities offered by its bustling cities.
00:42But despite making 400 U.S. dollars a month, a third more than the national average, she,
00:48like many of her colleagues, are finding it hard to save as the cost of living rises in
00:53the rapidly-growing city.
00:56Since the 1990s, Vietnam's shift to a market-oriented economy has fueled rapid economic growth,
01:23making it a key player in global supply chains.
01:27Foreign investment and industrialization have significantly reduced poverty, with the rate
01:32dropping from over 50 percent in the early 1990s to approximately 3.4 percent in 2023.
01:39This growth has been centered in the cities, resulting in what some experts call the farm-to-factory
01:44trend.
02:05In Ho Chi Minh City's Binh Thanh District, where many migrant workers reside, officials
02:10say the temporary resident population has dropped by over 100,000 since 2020.
02:16Across the city, new migrant arrivals have also fallen sharply, from 180,000 in 2020
02:22to just 65,000 last year.
02:25Experts point to rising living costs and a slow shift toward better jobs as key reasons
02:30for the decline.
02:39While financial and quality-of-life difficulties act as a push factor, family ties and improving
02:44conditions in the countryside are proving to be a strong pull.
02:47During the COVID-19 pandemic's lockdowns in Vietnam, many migrant workers returned
02:52to their hometowns and discovered them to be much more developed.
03:18Like many people in Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Hiep and her family usually travel to their hometown
03:22for Tet, the Lunar New Year holiday.
03:25This year, however, she and her family won't be making the trip back to Ho Chi Minh.
03:29Instead, they've decided to stay in their hometown, where life is becoming more stable
03:33and affordable.
03:35Phu Hoa Hung and Bryn Thomas for Taiwan Plus.