Strikes Indicate Growing Discontent

We see the growing number of pay-related strikes as a potential source of civil unrest. Thousands of workers, mainly employed at foreign-owned textile plants, have gone on strike in recent months, demanding higher wages to offset rapidly increasing prices of food and other necessities. The government raised the minimum wage for foreign-owned plants by 13% in January, but real wages have been eroded by rapidly accelerating inflation (19.4% y-o-y in March). There is now a growing discontent with the unequal distribution of the spoils of Vietnam's rapid economic expansion, which may affect the support for Communist Party

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