The study aims to document the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on female migrant workers in Vietnam’s apparel and footwear industries over a period of six months, from February to July 2020, focusing on: (i) economic impacts (employment, income); (ii) health impacts (access to health services, healthcare, and infection prevention); and (iii) social impacts (constraints on families and individuals; need for future support). The study will contribute to helping stakeholders (governments, businesses, mass organizations, and social organizations) recognize the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to build measures to minimize them, and improve lives and jobs for workers in the apparel and footwear industries, especially female migrant workers, both during and after the pandemic.

This report is in two parts. Part A, the Desk Review, a summary of secondary sources, draws on published material that addresses the structure of Vietnam’s clothing and footwear industries and the impacts of the economic downturn on businesses and workers in those sectors. The Desk Review was conducted as an end in itself and as a basis for designing and implementing the original research described in Part B of the report. Not only does it detail short-term impacts on businesses and workers (through 2020), the Desk Review also outlines structural challenges affecting the sector and suggests government policy responses to address longer-term issues. Part B of the paper summarizes the key results of social surveys of workers displaced from apparel factories in three of Vietnam’s provinces. The survey results essentially confirm the impacts indicated in the Desk Review whilst adding qualitative details regarding the apparel sector, illustrating the struggles which workers of the sector’s factories are facing due to the rapid, massive, and of course unforeseen changes to their lives.