Authorities in Vietnam report that by the end of this month, one of the country’s largest shoe factories for Nike and Adidas will lay off thousands of people due to a drop in orders.
According to a document acquired by AFP from the Ho Chi Minh City labor department on Monday, PouYuen Vietnam, a unit of Taiwan’s Pou Chen Group, will lay off 3,000 workers and will not renew the contracts of 3,000 others due to “very few production orders in 2023.”
With around 50,000 people, PouYuen is the commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City’s major employer.
Vietnam is one of the largest exporters of clothing, footwear, and furniture in the world, but the country has been hit hard by the global consumer spending slump as a result of the cost-of-living crisis in Europe and the United States.
The Vietnam General Confederation of Labor reports that in the fourth quarter of 2022, orders from the United States dropped by 30–40% and those from Europe dropped by 60% compared to the same period the previous year.
