Rising inflation continues to haunt Viet Nam’s poor

With 1.2 million people entering the workforce every year and an inflation rate of 25.2 percent, Viet Nam’s poor are hard pressed to earn enough money to keep their families alive, the United Nations’ IRIN news agency reported on June 11.

Rising fuel and food prices – up 30 and 42 percent from last year, respectively – are making it more difficult for workers to feed their families on typical salaries.

“No matter how careful I am,” said Dinh To Trinh, a worker at a Japanese rubber factory, “at the end of the month, I have nothing left.”

All of these factors seem to be undermining the gains Viet Nam has made towards combating poverty.

Tens of thousands of workers across the country have been staging strikes – over 300 this year alone – to press for higher wages. According to the article, “the government opposes higher wages because salary increases fuel inflation and make Viet Nam less attractive to foreign investors, who generate employment.”

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