It is worth mentioning that since COVID-19, the number of overtime days that Thuong can work has also decreased. When there are many, he can only work overtime once every three months. This makes his already limited income even tighter. Meanwhile, living costs, food costs… are constantly increasing.
Simple furniture in the room rented by Nong Van Thuong and his wife.
Thuong’s wife also works at Quang Minh industrial park with a similar salary. He and his wife had to send the money they earned back home to raise their two young children.
“We also want to be close to our children, but the cost of studying and living in Hanoi is too expensive and we cannot afford it. Moreover, in the countryside, grandparents can also grow their own food, so all costs are cheap, not expensive and prices increase abnormally like here.“, I said.
Doing some mental calculations, both husband and wife worked as workers in Hanoi and calculated that they only had enough money to cover living expenses and send it back to their hometown for their grandparents to feed their grandchildren, without saving any money.
Therefore, for a long time he and his wife have not thought about buying new clothes. When you go to work all day at the company, you wear a worker’s uniform. When you come home, you just need old clothes. Only when Tet comes does he buy himself a new set of clothes as a reward for a whole year of work.
Since they didn’t have enough money to work, Mr. Thuong and his wife, since coming to Hanoi to do business, have never dared to dream of traveling or going to the movies, listening to music, or eating at restaurants.
Every day, I go to work at 7:00 a.m. and finish work at 7:00 p.m. If I don’t work overtime, I get home at 8:00 p.m. After showering, having dinner, the only entertainment is lying on the phone and then going to bed early to have the energy to work the next day.
“It is difficult to say whether or not we will continue to stay in Hanoi. However, if I quit my job and go back to my hometown now, I won’t know what to do to make money. So every day, the couple encourages each other to try their best. If it’s even more difficult, we’ll have to consider returning home“, Thuong confided.
Ms. Nguyen Thi T., from Thanh Hoa to Hanoi to work as a worker, also rented a room in a 5-room boarding house. Ms. T. rented a room alone at a cost of 1 million VND/month. If you include electricity, water, food, and food each month, it will cost you about more than 4 million VND.
That’s not including the cost of other basic items.
Many workers’ dormitories in Chi Dong town have no tenants.
Ms. T. said that every month she tries to send her mother 2-3 million VND back to her hometown to help her mother take care of her two children. With her salary of 8 million VND/month and living expenses in Hanoi, after deducting essential expenses and money sent home, luckily she has 1 million left over to save up. Every month I have to go back to my hometown or have a wedding, so I don’t have to make any money.
The company feeds one meal, and for the rest, Ms. T. finds the most economical way to spend: “When I go to work in the morning, I eat about 10,000 dong of sticky rice. Many times I crave a bowl of pho but don’t dare eat it. Thinking that eating a bowl of pho for 35,000 VND would mean “eating” would take more than 1 hour of standing and working non-stop at the company, so I stopped.”.
Ms. T. said she is still waiting for the day when the company has many contracts and can work overtime regularly. Then, your salary will improve and you will earn more money, help you spend more comfortably and, importantly, save money.
“If you work overtime regularly, your monthly salary will be 10-12 million VND, which will be enough to live and make spending easier. That’s what I’m looking forward to, I can’t wait for the company to raise my salary. CWe get a salary increase once a year. But each time the salary increases, the increase is only 20,000 – 30,000 VND, which is nothing compared to the price of goods in the market.
A bowl of pho has now increased by 5,000 VND for a long time, or a package of instant noodles is also a few thousand VND more expensive than before, and every item has increased in price. So even if the salary increases, it won’t matter“, Ms. T. said.
Cong Hieu