Informal Employment of Women in the Manufacturing Sector in Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnamese government and survey institutes struggle in policy implementation in taking actions to mitigate poverty and vulnerability due to the lack of accurate and specific data. Different survey institutions and government entities use different metrics and definition. Inconsistent metrics and delay in updates of these data for many years also prevents further initiations. While Vietnam has one of the highest informal employment rate in the world, Vietnamese government and survey institute data hardly reflect the accuracy and specificity of the informal employment sector. Amongst many different employment sectors, manufacturing has one of the highest informal employment rate of 41.9%. Informal employment in manufacturing sector constitutes garment factories, international sweatshops, and more. The manufacturing sector dominantly employs female workers without or only through verbal contract. This report hopes to present Ho Chi Minh City’s female informal employment in the manufacturing sector. An establishment of a survey institution is recommended to increase the accuracy and mitigate the gap between data and reality. The survey institution will help collect, analyze, and update national statistics. Improving data accuracy and specification with unified indicators will help Vietnam to tackle through their effort to mitigate vulnerability in the workforce.