"Vietnamese people don't work to drive crazy Chinese bosses" on the hot search, are Vietnamese young people really lazy?

Source: Global Times

Recently, on Chinese social media, the topic of "Vietnamese working 'not rolling' to drive Chinese bosses crazy" has rushed to the hot search, and many Chinese who have invested in Vietnam or have worked in Vietnam have joined in complaining, and even bluntly said that Vietnam's labor cost advantage has disappeared. For a while, Vietnamese migrant workers seemed to be labeled "lazy". But is this really the case in the real Vietnam? After visiting industrial zones and Chinese-funded enterprises in many places in Vietnam, the Global Times reporter came to different conclusions.

Are Vietnamese employees "lazy or not"

"Vietnam's labor costs are lower than China's, but production efficiency is also low!" Speaking of Vietnamese employees, Ms. Feng, who has invested in local factories for 20 years, poured bitter water on reporters. She runs 3 printing houses in Vietnam and employs nearly 100 Vietnamese employees, always struggling with the inefficiency of Vietnamese employees. In her opinion, some social media bloggers complain that Vietnamese migrant workers are late to work, and they will brush and leave their posts when they get off work, even if there is overtime pay.

Gu Xiaosong, an expert on Vietnam and president of the ASEAN Research Institute of Hainan Tropical Ocean College, said in an interview with the Global Times on June 2 that compared with domestic employees, Vietnamese employees are indeed generally disciplined, and there are late arrivals, early departures, and unwillingness to work overtime.

However, some Chinese company leaders do not agree that Vietnamese employees like to be "lazy". Wang Lihui, chairman of Anyue Honghe Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd., who has been in business in Vietnam for 14 years, told reporters that the comments on the Internet about Vietnamese migrant workers are biased, "I don't think it can be said that they are 'lazy', the overall quality of Vietnamese young people is not bad, although the work skills are weaker, but the learning ability is very strong." ”

Wang Lihui's company mainly does marketing and sales, and has opened more than 180 stores in Vietnam, employing more than 1,100 people, except for company executives, from store staff to department managers. In Wang Lihui's view, while creating employment opportunities for employees, enterprises must also pay attention to the growth and work experience of employees, and in turn, employees will cherish this job more. Wang Lihui also told reporters that during the previous epidemic, his company not only did not lay off employees, but also guaranteed to pay salaries, and employees who were isolated at home could still receive half of their salaries. Although facing the pressure of the economic downturn this year, the company's total sales revenue from January to May increased by 26%.

Fan Baoqun, a Jinguang Chair researcher at the National Institute of Development of Peking University who recently went to Vietnam to carry out a survey on the situation of China's industrial transfer to Vietnam, told reporters that instead of arguing about whether Vietnamese migrant workers are "lazy", Chinese enterprises in Vietnam should have a deeper understanding of the composition and advantages of Vietnam's labor resources, understand the educational background, values, career trends, life pursuits, consumption interests, etc. of Vietnamese young people, and tailor some enterprise management systems and employee growth plans for Vietnamese employees, so as to activate their love of work. Sincerely serve the endogenous driving force of the enterprise.

The advantage of the Vietnamese labor force is very prominent

Although the attitude of Vietnamese migrant workers to work is mixed, most Chinese business leaders in Vietnam acknowledge that the overall Vietnamese labor market remains dynamic and attractive. The data shows that the average age of the current Vietnamese population is 32.5 years old, 70% of the population is the working force, and more importantly, the literacy rate of Vietnamese adults is about 95%, and the labor force participation rate is about 70%. Both figures are not far from China's level.

By comparison, India, which has just become the world's most populous country, has a literacy rate of about 73 percent and a labor force participation rate of only about 52 percent. In the past 10 years, the reason why the world's major economies have "coveted" Vietnam's labor force is the quantity and quality of Vietnam's labor force.

Gu Xiaosong told reporters that compared with other Southeast Asian countries, the quality of Vietnamese employees is relatively high, which is mainly reflected in the higher degree of education. In addition, compared with other Southeast Asian countries, Vietnamese employees are more efficient. Moreover, due to the cultural similarities between Vietnam and China, it is relatively easy for Chinese managers to communicate with Vietnamese employees.

At the same time, Vietnam's labor cost advantage is far from fading. During the visit, the Global Times reporter found that at present, the monthly salary of ordinary employees of general enterprises in Vietnam is about 3,000 yuan, the monthly income of white-collar workers is about 5,000 yuan to 6,000 yuan, and the senior management is about 10,000 yuan to 15,000 yuan. Pham Baoqun told reporters that the advantages of Vietnam's abundant labor force and low labor costs will continue for a long time.

Young people are "not soft" when consuming

While some people lament that Vietnamese migrant workers are not active in work and do not pursue high income, they are also surprised that they are positive about consumption, and if they choose between working to earn money and life, they are more willing to choose life.

In Vietnam today, young people have become the main body of consumption, and coffee shops and restaurants all over the streets and alleys are often full of young people dressed in various clothes.

"Young people here are very open to consumption," Xiao Wu, who has lived in Vietnam for a while, told reporters, adding that the cost of consumption in Vietnam's big cities is basically the same as that of domestic third-tier cities, even if the income level of local people is much lower than that of Chinese, but young people are not stingy about spending coffee, fashion and food. According to his observation, with the gradual promotion of e-commerce platforms, express delivery business is increasingly appearing on the street.

Vietnam's consumption potential is being unleashed. According to McKinsey's March 2022 Vietnam New Consumer Report, more than 36 million consumers are likely to join Vietnam's consumer class (consumers who spend at least $11 per day at purchasing power parity terms) in the next 10 years. In 2000, less than 10 per cent of Vietnam's population belonged to the consumer class, but now it has risen to 40 per cent. In 2030, that number could be closer to 75 percent. The so-called "digital natives" born between 1980 and 2012 are expected to account for about 40% of Vietnam's consumer market by 2030. And rapid digitalization is changing the way young people in Vietnam consume.

Recently, Q&Me, a Vietnamese market research institution, released a survey report on consumer preferences in Vietnam, and statistics show that online shopping has become an important part of Vietnamese consumers' lives. Among them, 40% of consumers surveyed said they shop online multiple times a week. In the "post-pandemic era", Vietnam has become one of the fastest growing countries in Southeast Asia for online shopping. According to data from Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade, the market size of Vietnam's e-commerce industry reached US$16.4 billion in 2022. About 57 million to 60 million Vietnamese people will shop online in 2022, with per capita consumption expenditure of US$260 to US$285.

According to a report by data research firm Metric.vn, the total revenue of Vietnam's e-commerce market increased by 22% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023. Among them, Shopee, the leader of cross-border e-commerce in Southeast Asia, accounted for 63.1% of the market share, followed by Lazada and TikTok Shop, all of which have Chinese backgrounds.

Gu Xiaosong told reporters that the needs of young people in Vietnam are particularly worthy of attention. In terms of physical stores, China's Haidilao and Michelle Ice City are already popular with locals. At the same time, China's new energy vehicles are going global, while the demand for Vietnamese family cars is gradually emerging. In the next step, China's new energy vehicles have a lot of market space to expand in Vietnam. In addition, cultural consumption also deserves further promotion. Some Chinese online literature and online works will also be quickly translated into Vietnamese and disseminated.

However, the overall economic situation in Vietnam is also affecting the direction of the Vietnamese consumer market. Vietnam's "Investor" magazine reported that rating agency S&P Global said in May that due to weak demand, Vietnam's manufacturing data in April continued to be sluggish, and commodity production and new orders were further reduced. According to the latest report by S&P Global, Vietnam's manufacturing trade environment has been deteriorating in the past six months.

According to research by Mekong Research and Consulting, Vietnamese now prefer to save money, saving an average of 30% of discretionary funds, the highest proportion since 2021.