This report provides updated estimates of family living expenses and living wage for Minimum Wage Region 2, Vietnam. The update for 2023 takes into account inflation and changes in payroll deductions since the original Anker living wage study carried out in March 2022 (Do, Nguyen, Anker, and Anker, 2022).

This report estimates a living wage for minimum wage Region 2 of Vietnam using the Anker Methodology. Region 2 is one of 4 regions used by the Government of Vietnam for setting minimum wages and is mostly comprised of major urban areas in Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam, excluding Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. For Region 2, we estimate a living wage of VND 7,611,979 (USD 318) per month, as of March 2022. This is the gross wage required for a typical family of 2 adults (one in full-time employment and one in parttime employment) and 2 children to afford a nutritious, low-cost diet, healthy housing, adequate health care, education through secondary school, and all other essential expenses, plus a small margin for unexpected events. This value was calculated using secondary data on household expenditure, labor force, and population from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam combined with primary data collected on local costs of food, housing, health care, education, and transport for a sample of 12 districts in 6 Region 2 provinces. Our living wage estimate is around 80% higher than the minimum wage for Region 2 that was set in July 2022.