WAGES OF INFORMAL WORKERS - IN COMPARISON WITH REGION’S MINIMUM WAGE AND LIVING WAGE (Case Study of Garbage Collectors and Construction Workers in Ho Chi Minh City)

Abstract

Wages that do not meet the minimum standard of living and are lower than the living wage are the general results of many studies on wages in the labour groups of informal workers. The case study of informal private garbage collectors and construction workers in Ho Chi Minh City shows that they do not have access to the "minimum wage” due to no labor contracts provided to them, therefore, the wages received according to both sides’ mutual agreements in many cases are lower than the regional minimum wage. Compared with the living wage calculated by the Anker’s method, the wage of the private waste collectors are only equal to 72% of the living wage. Therefore, it is necessary to do extensive research towards policy advocacy, in order to make this group of subjects become the subjects of the Labor Code to guarantee a living wage for them.