Light manufacturing in Vietnam creating jobs and prosperity in a middle-income economy

• Main Authors: Dinh, Hinh T, Mishra, Deepak, Binh, Le Duy, Pham, Duc Minh, Hang, Pham Thi Thu
• Format: eBook Book
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago THE WORLD BANK 2014; World Bank; World Bank Publications; The World Bank; Washington, DC: World Bank
• Edition: 1
• Series: Directions in development : private sector development
• Subjects: 1975; agribusiness; apparel; BUSINESS & ECONOMICS; copper; Dutch disease; Economic conditions; Economic development; Economic policy; Job creation; leather goods; light manufacturing; Manufacturing industries; metal products; structural transformation; Vietnam; wood products; AGRIBUSINESS; METAL PRODUCTS; LEATHER GOODS; APPAREL; STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION; DUTCH DISEASE; WOOD PRODUCTS; COPPER; LIGHT MANUFACTURING
• ISBN: 9781464800344; 1464800340
• DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0034-4

Economic reforms have altered Vietnam from one of the world's lowest income countries to a lower-middle-income country. However, since 2008, Vietnam has faced major challenges in restoring macroeconomic balances and sustaining high economic growth. Global integration has led to greater economic volatility, and Vietnam has become more susceptible to output fluctuations among its trading partners at a time when the latter are experiencing significant recession. Vietnamese authorities have responded by adopting a stimulus package, which has temporarily supported growth, but done little to restore long-term macro-stability. Light manufacturing has emerged as an important source of growth and productive employment in economies with a comparative advantage in labor-intensive sectors, as is the case in Vietnam, and thus presents great potential for improving the country's economy. This book focuses on five light manufacturing industries that form the core of the Vietnamese industrial sector: processed foods and beverages, leather, wood processing and wood products, metal products, and apparel. It aims to examine the following issues: 1) the binding constraints facing light manufacturing in Vietnam; 2) the coping mechanisms of firms to these constraints; and 3) the practical policy reforms which would help firms overcome the constraints and jump-start industry to facilitate the transformation of Vietnam into a modern economy.