Average wage in Vietnam likely up 12% next year: survey

The average wage in Vietnam might climb 12% next year, better than the 9% this year, according to Anphabe, a leading workforce solution provider in the country.

The firm's survey, part of its Vietnam Best Places to Work 2022 report, collected responses from 57,939 staff of 515 firms and 150 executives and human resources (HR) managers of 20 sectors from April to September.

It showed that in the year to September 2022, 56% of laborers had their wage raised, 38% saw their figures unchanged, and only 6% had wage reduction or unstable income.

Anphabe said this is a big improvement from 2021, which only witnessed 35% of laborers with increased wages and 15% with reduced or unstable incomes.

Regarding bonuses, nine out of 10 employees enjoyed rewards for their performance in 2021, of which 70% received bonuses of a 1.4-month wage, meeting or exceeding their expectations, in the first quarter of this year.

Anphabe noted a positive development of the scaling down post-pandemic resignation trend, also known as the Great Resignation. The rate of employees with intention to leave is expected to go down from 23% this year to 17% next year.

Amid the post-Covid-19 recovery, 46% of firms plan workforce expansion next year, with key motivations of expanding business, investing in advance to compensate for training time, fixing understaffing, adding new capabilities, among others.

Anphabe noted another good development that the employee trust index, which indicates staff’s trust in the company’s vision and strategy, recovered from a record low of 45% in Q3/2021 to 75% in Q3/2022.

However, Anphabe emphasized a serious problem that 42% of the workforce is under stress, frequently or very frequently.

The survey showed that the most stressful sectors were industrial materials with 56% of respondents, banking with 53%, manufacturing/chemical with 49%, pharmaceutical/healthcare with 45%, and construction/architecture with 44%.

The top stressful jobs were quality control with 50%, strategy and management with 48%, doctor/nurse/pharmacist with 47%, sales/trade marketing with 46%, and customer care with 43%.