Vietnam’s factories lurch into crisis from worker exodus with holiday shopping on the line

This is the latest disruption to global supply chains already roiled by labour shortages and high shipping costs due to the pandemic

Factories had moved to Vietnam amid the US-China trade dispute, but there are fears the mass departure of workers could drag down economic growth

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Migrants from An Giang province, mostly informal workers, stop at a police checkpoint on their way to their hometowns. Photo: Kao Nguyen

Published: 6:45pm, 11 Oct 2021Updated: 10:40pm, 12 Oct 2021

For four months this year, as Vietnam battled the Delta variant, manufacturing worker Le Van Teo stayed in his shared room in the southern industrial hub of Binh Duong, where he survived on donated food supplies.

Lockdowns and temporary closures of factories as the country tried to quell a surge of Covid-19 cases meant workers’ earnings were irregular at best. They saw their savings evaporate and relied on neighbours or the local government for meals, a situation many found traumatic.

So when movement restrictions were eased on October 1, 36-year-old Teo, who operated cutting machines at a plastic manufacturing company, decided he had reached breaking point. He joined the thousands of workers – originally from the poorer parts of the country – who are leaving for their hometowns, an exodus that has left business owners in a state of panic over labour losses.

Of the 3.5 million migrant workers employed in Ho Chi Minh City and its neighbouring provinces, 2.1 million want to return home, according to state media reports. Images of those making the journey, many with children on motorcycles piled with personal belongings, have been shared widely on Facebook and TikTok.