As an effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, millions of Vietnamese workers are finding ways to deal with the difficulty of massive layoffs from manufacturers. The pandemic also reveals flaws in the argument in favour of the national economic strategy based on the advantage of a cheap labour force and outsourcing manufacturing.

It is July 2020, and life seems “back to normal” in Vietnam with busy traffic on streets and the re-opening of public places and stores. Vietnam announced that Covid-19 has been contained with no deaths; infected and recovered cases were under 400, and it has been more than three months with no new infections in the community.

However, the impact of Covid-19—particularly in the export, domestic, or foreign direct investment (FDI) industries—is raging on in the lives of millions of workers in hundreds of industrial zones throughout the entire country. The crisis only began in the last couple of months and is not likely to end soon, as the forecast for the outbreak is still very complicated and not so positive at the moment.