{"id":26037,"date":"2025-09-25T11:30:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T10:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/?post_type=project&#038;p=26037"},"modified":"2025-10-07T16:30:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T15:30:29","slug":"flas-living-wage-pilot-in-viet-nam","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/projects\/flas-living-wage-pilot-in-viet-nam\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Wage Pilots in Bangladesh and Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"rich-text section\" data-dc-animate>\n    <div class=\" fade-animate \"  data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n        \n\n<p>With funding from the Initiative for Global Solidarity, implemented by the German development agency <a href=\"https:\/\/www.giz.de\/de\">Deutsche Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Internationale Zusammenarbeit<\/a> (GIZ), FLA conducted two studies\u2014one in Vietnam, and one in Bangladesh\u2014to pilot strategies to raise workers\u2019 wages between 2022-2025. Buyers participating in the project received customized recommendations and began developing individual action plans to improve their practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first phase of the project, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/projects\/flas-living-wage-pilot-in-viet-nam\/#vietnam\">in Vietnam<\/a>, was a pilot initiative to explore opportunities for multi-buyer factories and global brands to collaborate to advance living wages. The second phase, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/projects\/flas-living-wage-pilot-in-viet-nam\/#bangladesh\">in Bangladesh<\/a>, was a case study to examine the impact of a recent minimum-wage increase, building on insights from the Vietnam phase of the project. Both phases included worker and management interviews, reviews of buyers\u2019 and suppliers\u2019 policies and practices, and workshops to share lessons learned.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the projects, FLA partnered with other multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs), including the Ethical Trading Initiative; civil society and consultants, including the Research Center for Employment Relations (ERC), Global Worker Dialogue, and InSync Global; 15 global apparel buyers; four manufacturers in Bangladesh; and two manufacturers in Vietnam.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In September 2025, FLA released a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/reports\/learnings-from-living-wage-studies-in-vietnam-bangladesh\/\">report on learnings from these living wage studies <\/a>in Vietnam and Bangladesh that includes findings and recommendations, as well as information on background and methodology.<\/p>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"section documents\" data-dc-animate>\n            <ul class=\"documents__list  fade-animate    \"\n    data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\"\n     style=\"z-index: 39\" >\n            <li class=\"documents__item\" >\n                            <a download href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Learnings-from-Fair-Compensation-Projects-VN-BG-Final-Clean-240925.pdf\" download class=\"documents__link\">\n                    <svg class=\"icon documents__icon1\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\" focusable=\"false\">\n                        <use xlink:href=\"#icon-page\"><\/use>\n                    <\/svg>\n                    <span class=\"documents__name\">Learnings from living wage studies in Vietnam and Bangladesh<\/span>\n                                            <span class=\"documents__type\">PDF | 911 KB<\/span>\n                                        <span class=\"documents__icon2\">\n                    <svg class=\"icon\"  focusable=\"false\">\n                        <use xlink:href=\"#icon-download\"><\/use>\n                    <\/svg>\n                    <\/span>\n                <\/a>\n                    <\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n    <\/section>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text section\" data-dc-animate>\n    <div class=\" fade-animate \"  data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n        \n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FLA and GIZ also hosted a virtual side session during the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/join-fla-at-the-2025-oecd-forum-on-due-diligence-in-the-garment-and-footwear-sector\/\">2025 OECD Forum on Due Diligence for the Garment and Footwear Sector<\/a> using the case studies to explore the gap between legal minimum wages and living wages, and how responsible purchasing practices\u2014such as fair pricing, long-term partnerships, and predictable order volumes\u2014can help bridge this divide.<\/p>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Enabling Higher Wages for Garment Workers Through Purchasing Practices\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fl5fmv-zxB0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text section\" data-dc-animate>\n    <div class=\" fade-animate \"  data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n        \n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text section\" data-dc-animate>\n    <div class=\" fade-animate \"  data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n        \n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Background<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>FLA used the minimum wage-setting mechanisms as a bellwether to understand the feasibility of wage progress for workers in both countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Bangladesh, this project launched six months after the monthly minimum wage for garment workers increased from 8,000 BDT ($72.90) in 2018 to 12,500 BDT ($133) in 2023. FLA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/resource\/fair-labor-associations-bangladesh-wage-trends-report-and-recommendations\/\">wage trends report<\/a> on Bangladesh showed a lack of wage progress for workers from 2019 to 2022 \u2013 despite the mechanism that increases current workers\u2019 wages five percent annually \u2013 since this law does not apply to all workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Vietnam, FLA started its work in this country in 2022, with the background that the minimum wage is regularly updated. This commitment from the government ensures that minimum wages for garment sector workers have increased steadily following the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both projects used the living wage estimates by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globallivingwage.org\/\">Global Living Wage Coalition<\/a> to benchmark wage progress.<\/p>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text section\" data-dc-animate>\n    <div class=\" fade-animate \"  data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n        \n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"bangladesh\"><strong>Bangladesh<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This living wage case study built off of the learnings from FLA\u2019s project in Vietnam, and was adapted to fit the wage dynamics in the country. FLA partnered with the Global Worker Dialogue to conduct off-site worker surveys on workers\u2019 wages, living conditions, and working conditions. Wage evaluations were executed by InSync Global and FLA evaluated buyers\u2019 purchasing practices using results from the companies\u2019 Accreditation Milestone 5 evaluations and testing against the draft <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfrpp.org\/resources\">Purchasing Practices HRDD Framework<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FLA worked with four factories and seven <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/accountability\/fair-labor-accreditation\/\">Fair Labor Accredited<\/a> brands to study the wage progress made up to 2023, how the factory manages its compensation system in 2024 and 2025, and how brands are supporting with purchasing practices. In January 2025, FLA and the Ethical Trading Initiative hosted a buyer-supplier roundtable workshop, which included summaries of the projects led by FLA and ETI, training on responsible purchasing practices and impacts to living wage and social dialogue, and break-out groups for buyer-supplier dialogue on purchasing practices and other factors impacting wage progress in Bangladesh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FLA also co-led a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aafaglobal.org\/AAFA\/AAFA_News\/2025_Press_Releases\/AAFA_FLA_Reiterate_Sustainable_Partnership_Bangladesh_Industry.aspx\">joint-brand delegation<\/a> with the American Apparel and Footwear Association to advocate for the interim government to improve workers\u2019 rights \u2013 especially to emphasize <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/resource\/joint-recommendations-for-responsible-business-conduct-in-bangladesh\/\">joint recommendations<\/a> for responsible business conduct raised in August 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This project started in May 2024 and concluded in April 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text section\" data-dc-animate>\n    <div class=\" fade-animate \"  data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n        \n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"vietnam\"><strong>Vietnam<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>With on-the-ground support and expertise from the Research Center for Employment Relations (ERC), this was the first of the living wage projects, starting in 2022 and concluding in 2024. The pilot sought to understand the complexities in buyer-supplier relationships in multi-buyer apparel and footwear factories, and improve purchasing and costing practices, wage transparency, and worker engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through this pilot, FLA worked with two factories and eight brands. Wage evaluations included a desktop and payroll review, as well as interviews with workers and management. ERC offered insight and recommendations on how the factories and buyers can support wage progress by improving costing practices, diversifying product categories, forecasting and incentives, and worker engagement and dialogue. FLA reviewed buyers\u2019 overall purchasing practices policies and procedures, providing recommendations for companies to improve responsible purchasing practices policies across their supply chains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pilot was previewed for local stakeholders in Vietnam, including buyers, suppliers, NGOs, and representatives from the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and Ministry of Labor in October 2022. In 2024, FLA hosted two separate workshops with suppliers and buyers to share the learnings, provide training on living wage, and discuss the wage dynamics that impact suppliers and buyers in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This project began in June 2022 and concluded in August 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"section quote quote--dark-blue\" data-dc-animate>\n    <div class=\"quote__icon  fade-animate \" data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n        <svg class=\"icon\" focusable=\"false\">\n            <use xlink:href=\"#icon-qoute\"><\/use>\n        <\/svg>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"quote__body  fade-animate \" data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n    <p>Our communication [with the buyers] is good, but we want them to understand us more&#8230; the buyers have difficulties but we wish they [would] visit us in person. We have to support 6,000 workers&#8230; we cannot close down our factory to wait until they overcome their difficulties.<\/p>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n            <div class=\"quote__author  fade-animate \" data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n        Interviewed member of a factory&#039;s merchandising team\n       <\/div>\n    \n            <div class=\"quote__date  fade-animate \" data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n            October 4, 2022\n        <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text section\" data-dc-animate>\n    <div class=\" fade-animate \"  data-dc-animate-ref=\"fadeBlocks[]\">\n        \n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"featured_media":31351,"template":"","categories":[18,16,730],"location":[38,257],"members":[],"partner":[802,803,805,806,804],"class_list":["post-26037","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living-wage","category-health-safety-environment","category-responsible-purchasing","location-bd","location-vn"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/26037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26037"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=26037"},{"taxonomy":"members","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/members?post=26037"},{"taxonomy":"partner","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fairlabor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/partner?post=26037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}