To achieve a basic standard of living, a family of 4 in Ho Chi Minh City has many expenses, is an income of 20-21 million VND/month enough?
People buy food at a supermarket - Photo: NAM TRAN
Balancing income and expenses is always a difficult problem for many families in big cities. Especially in Ho Chi Minh City, a family of two parents and two small children must be very clever with their spending in the face of rising living costs.
Achieving a basic standard of living means being able to live decently in the city, and the reality is that a family of four has a lot of expenses.
How much income is enough to cover living expenses each month?
Renting a house is a big expense, especially for young couples.
My friend rents an apartment in Thu Duc City for 5.3 million VND per month. Many colleagues choose to rent a more spacious house in the suburbs of Binh Tan District and District 12 for about 4-7 million VND per month. A small rented room costs about 2-3 million VND per month.
Meanwhile, if you want to stay near the center or in the center such as District 1, 3, 10, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, the rental price is from 6-12 million VND/month or higher.
For families with good income, buying a house is an option, but this means having to bear additional bank installment costs of at least 15-16 million VND per month for a loan of 85% of the value of an apartment worth about 2 billion, which is not easy to find.
For families with two children, education costs are a major issue, accounting for the majority of expenses. My two children attend public schools, one in first grade and the other in fourth grade. Tuition is exempted, but other expenses besides tuition are difficult to count.
Such as fees for information technology application and digital transformation services, fees for student drinking water, fees for air conditioning in classrooms, fees for organizing management and cleaning services for boarding students, fees for lunch for boarding students, fees for purchasing equipment and supplies for boarding students each semester...
The first grader also has to pay an additional fee to organize the project "School implements high-quality program, advanced school integrating internationally" with a collection of 1.725 million VND/month.
In total, we have to pay 5-6 million VND per month for non-tuition fees. In addition, expenses for books, school supplies, uniforms, and extra classes can also cost an additional 2-3 million VND per month for a child from elementary to high school.
This is one of the expenses that cannot be cut if parents want to invest in their children's future.
With the standard of living in Ho Chi Minh City, a family of four who cooks at home can spend about 4-6 million VND/month on food.
Food prices continue to rise, especially vegetables, meat, fish, milk and other essential products. This forces many families to tighten their spending to ensure their monthly budget.
Besides food, there are other utility costs. A family of four spends an average of 1.5-3 million VND/month on electricity, water, Internet and cable TV. If you use air conditioning regularly during the hot season, your electricity bill can increase significantly.
Then add in travel expenses, if a couple uses two motorbikes, on average each month they can spend about 1.5 million VND more on gas, not to mention maintenance.
Some families choose to use public transport or ride-hailing services to save money, but the cost still fluctuates between 1-2 million VND/month.
Not to mention the expenses for medicine, medical examination, and vaccination for children can also be up to 1-3 million VND/month. If unfortunately you have an accident or become seriously ill, it will be extremely difficult.
A family living in Ho Chi Minh City also needs to spend on entertainment and personal needs, including shopping, traveling, eating out, watching movies, and exercising. If you are frugal, this amount can be from 2-3 million VND/month.
Living wage or minimum wage?
Combining the above expenses, we can see that a family of four in Ho Chi Minh City can spend at least 18-22 million VND/month to maintain a basic standard of living and it is difficult to save with current income.
If you want to have a more comfortable life, this number can increase to 30-40 million VND/month. If these spending figures are calculated for families with many children (more than two children), we can multiply them to see how much of a family's financial burden it is.
When referring to the issue of income recently, a National Assembly delegate mentioned the concept of "living wage" rather than "minimum wage".
Perhaps the delegate wanted to emphasize the fact that the current minimum wage is not enough to support a basic family.
According to Decree No. 74/2024/ND-CP, effective from July 1, 2024, the minimum wage in region I is 4.96 million VND/month; region II is 4.41 million VND/month; region III is 3.86 million VND/month and region IV is 3.45 million VND/month.
Ho Chi Minh City is in region I, so clearly this minimum wage does not fully reflect the actual cost of living in major cities in Vietnam.
The gap between income as measured by the "minimum wage" and expenditure poses a major challenge for workers to make ends meet in large cities.
And a "living wage" is the income level that meets the basic needs of both workers and their families, including food, housing, health care, education, transportation, and savings to be able to think about accumulating wealth.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/gia-dinh-bon-nguoi-tai-tp-hcm-can-muc-thu-nhap-bao-nhieu-de-dam-bao-chi-tieu-20250217081815631.htm
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