Essential requirements
For workers far from home, daily life is a spiral of expenses, including rent, electricity, water, living expenses, family deposits, etc. To balance the minimum living standard, in addition to basic salary, many workers have to rely on overtime.
Leaving her hometown of Can Tho to Binh Duong (now Ho Chi Minh City) to work as a worker, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tam (29 years old) said that with a basic salary of about 5 million VND/month, plus allowances, her average monthly income ranges from 6 - 7 million VND/month. If you work overtime, this income can be up to 8 million VND or more.
Although living alone, the amount of money the female worker has to spend each month accounts for more than 1⁄2 of her income.
"If I had not worked overtime, the rent, living expenses and sending them back to my hometown would have cost me more than half of my income. Therefore, the basic salary is really important and salary increase is always something we look forward to, Ms. Tam expressed.
Sharing the same concern, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao Ngan - a worker at Tra Noc Industrial Park (Can Tho City) shared that her job is currently stable but there are few overtime shifts, and the monthly income of female workers is only around 7 million VND/month. Meanwhile, in addition to the cost of renting a house and living in the city, the female worker also had to send money back to her hometown (old Soc Trang) to raise her young child.
For our workers, a stable basic salary is very important because there is not always overtime. Increasing the regional minimum wage helps us have a little more to cover, especially when prices are constantly climbing," Ms. Ngan confided.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ven (from Ca Mau), a garment worker in Tra Noc Industrial Park (Can Tho City), also believes that salary increase is very necessary and a legitimate desire of workers. The male worker explained that if he did not work overtime or had a night shift or was sick, his basic salary would be difficult to cover his family's monthly expenses, especially when he still had to take care of his two children of school age.
dual benefits
The National Wage Council met and voted to propose a regional minimum wage increase of 7.2%, effective from January 1, 2026. This is considered a good signal and is positively received by many workers.
Before this information, Ms. Tam expressed optimism, hoping that the salary increase will soon come true in the context of commodity prices increasing every day. According to the female worker, the increase is not necessarily too much, but that amount of money also partly saves the living expenses for workers in general and workers far from home like her in particular.
Ms. Thao Ngan believes that the salary increase will have a positive impact on the working spirit of workers: "We don't have to worry too much about spending money, we will be able to focus better on work and improve productivity. Thus, increasing wages will benefit both workers and businesses".
After the joy of his children being exempted from tuition fees, Mr. Ven was even more excited by new information about the increase in the regional minimum wage. The male worker shared that these are all the wishes of workers. The salary increase is not only an improvement in income but also a recognition of contributions, helping workers feel secure at work, improve efficiency and stabilize their lives.
