Abstract:Vietnam has experienced high growth and substantial poverty reduction for more than a decade. From 1990 to 2003 GDP grew at an annual rate of 7.5 %, while the share of the population surviving under the poverty line declined from 58.2 % in 1992/93 to 37.4 % in 1997/98, and to 28.6 % in 2002 (Kakwani and Son 2005). Given that Vietnam is a capital- and land-scarce country, like many others in the developing world, employment generation must have been the mechanism through which growth translated into poverty reduction. A quick look at employment and growth casts doubts on this presumption, however. (...)

Keywords:Vietnam, Jobs, Growth, Poverty

Publication Date:22 May 2005

Type/Issue:One Pager/14

ISSN:1812-108x