According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Vietnamese workers averaged 41.74 hours per week in 2025, down significantly from 45.3 hours in 2024, when the country ranked among the world’s top 20 for working hours. The decline has pushed Vietnam closer to the global average and well below the maximum 48-hour workweek permitted under its Labour Code.
Yet despite the downward trend, lawmakers, labour experts and worker representatives are renewing calls to shorten the statutory workweek to between 40 and 44 hours. The debate raises a broader question: Are the Vietnamese really working too much?
Uneven working hours between different sectors
Vietnam has fallen to 60th place globally in working hours in 2026, after ranking among the top 20 just a year ago. The shift suggests that Vietnamese workers, statistically, no longer spend significantly more time at work than their counterparts in many other economies.
However, national averages do not show differences in working hours across sectors and employment groups, particularly between factories and offices.
In office sectors, a growing number of companies have moved toward 40-hour workweeks and below as a way to attract and retain talent. Yet in industries such as manufacturing and garment production, the 48-hour workweek remains the norm. During peak export seasons, overtime can stretch for weeks as factories race to fulfil overseas orders.
Data from the National Statistics Office’s 2024 Labour and Employment Survey shows that around 46% of workers put in between 40 and 48 hours per week, while nearly 29% work beyond the 48-hour threshold. Foreign-invested enterprises (FDI) recorded the longest average workweeks in late 2024, exceeding 50 hours per week.
The maximum working time of eight hours per day or 48 hours per week was established under Vietnam’s 1994 Labour Code. In 1999, the public sector adopted a 40-hour workweek, while the private sector retained the 48-hour limit, which remains in place today. The government has since encouraged businesses to implement a 40-hour workweek for employees voluntarily; however, implementation remains uneven.
Moreover, Vietnam also lacks a mechanism to regulate maximum working hours for the informal sector, which accounts for 62.4% of the country’s labour force. According to labour experts, this gap can lead to the self-exhaustion of informal workers who regularly work 10 to 12 hours a day to earn a sufficient income.
From 48 to 44 to 40
The Vietnam General Confederation of Labour has recently called for a roadmap to reduce the standard workweek below the current 48-hour limit.
Over the past three years, this organisation has repeatedly called for a roadmap to reduce weekly working hours from 48 to 44, and eventually to 40 hours for employees in the corporate sector. The proposal has been raised at the 13th and 14th National Trade Union Congresses, as well as at national forums on improving labour productivity. Similar suggestions have also been made twice in the National Assembly.
Under the proposal, a phased roadmap could be introduced to implement the reduction in working hours. For example, Vietnam could cut the workweek to 44 hours by 2030, further reduce it to 40 hours after 2030, and potentially consider a 35-hour workweek by 2045.
According to Lawyer Lê Đình Quảng, former Deputy Head of the Legal Policy Department at the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, this is a “ripe” moment to implement the roadmap. As Vietnam has achieved significant economic progress, workers should also be able to benefit from these gains—not only through higher income, but also through improved quality of life.
Moreover, the reform is seen as a way to ensure fairness and equality across different labour sectors. Lawyer Quảng noted that while the public sector has long adopted a 40-hour workweek, workers in production and business sectors still typically work 48 hours per week, with reductions only encouraged rather than mandated. In practice, however, such encouragement is rarely implemented.
He also argued that productivity has been enhanced through the advancement of science and technology in production and business, along with more modern corporate governance. It is now an appropriate time to reduce working hours to 40–44 hours per week, and potentially move toward 35 hours per week in the future.
The government has not yet provided an official response to the proposed roadmap. The proposal has been received, and a review was requested in 2024, but no specific timeline has been set for when the roadmap will be formally considered or issued.
A policy with competing pressures
While reducing working hours is being increasingly welcomed for its potential benefits to employees, businesses, and even workers, expressed hesitation about the proposal. Speaking to Tuổi Trẻ, Nguyễn Thị Việt Nga, a member of the National Assembly’s Committee on Culture and Social Affairs, cautioned that such a policy cannot be implemented simply without a thorough impact assessment.
She noted that Vietnam’s business structure is still dominated by small- and medium-sized enterprises, with labour-intensive industries such as textiles, footwear, processing, and assembly relying heavily on workforce input and facing constant pressure from orders, costs, and delivery schedules.
Without the parallel effort put into improving productivity and upgrading technology, reducing working hours could increase production costs, weaken business competitiveness, and ultimately harm employment and workers’ incomes.
For employees, income remains their top concern. Workers expressed concern that a reduction in working hours could lead companies to cut wages, as the output produced by workers may decrease.
“Living expenses keep rising, and if wages are cut, how are we supposed to manage?”, a worker told VOV.
According to Phạm Thị Thu Lan, former Deputy Director of the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions under the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, reducing working hours would increase pressure on businesses, but this could also create positive momentum.
She argued that only when reducing working hours will companies feel greater pressure to innovate their thinking and operations to improve efficiency. At the same time, workers must continuously learn and upgrade their skills and professional qualifications to avoid being left behind.
However, she added that in order to ensure effectiveness, there is a need to carefully study the appropriate weekly working hours and implementation roadmap. There is also a strong need to develop specific programmes and policies for training and human resource development, particularly for high-quality labour.
