{"id":585600,"date":"2026-04-15T11:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/585600\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:41:11","slug":"vientams-golden-age-economic-opportunity-is-threatened-by-geopolitics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/585600\/","title":{"rendered":"Vientam’s “golden age” economic opportunity is threatened by geopolitics"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our series \u201cThe Age of Work,<\/a>\u201d Marketplace is looking at how labor force dynamics are changing the way the economy works.<\/p>\n

The population of the United States and other wealthy nations is getting older. That means the global economy is relying more and more on developing countries<\/a>, many of which have younger populations and, thus, younger workers. <\/p>\n

One example is Vietnam. \u201cWe’re seeing a country at its peak,\u201d said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson, \u201cMarketplace\u2019s\u201d partner on this series. \u201cThis is a country where there are two working-age adults for every dependent, either over 65 or under 15<\/a>.\u201d That workforce has attracted a lot of attention from American companies looking for workers. And that demand, in turn, is creating opportunities for Vietnam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn every other advanced, wealthy country, that \u2018golden spot\u2019 led to wealth creation, economic growth, and it led to technological advancement,\u201d said Richardson. \u201cHowever, it\u2019s not going to last forever. We have about 10 years before that sweet spot, that \u2018golden age,\u2019 turns into another aging population.\u201d<\/p>\n

All this week, we\u2019re bringing you stories from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, about the growing role that workers there are playing in the global economy. For this installment, \u201cMarketplace\u201d host Kai Ryssdal and Richardson reported from an indoor market and a garment factory that\u2019s caught in the crosswinds of geopolitics.<\/p>\n

In a historic market, vendors adjust to a changing economy<\/p>\n

Binh Tay Market, located in Ho Chi Minh City\u2019s Chinatown, is frequented by both wholesale customers and regular people. When Ryssdal and Richardson visited on a weekday morning, it was buzzing with activity: people on motorbikes delivering goods and shoppers perusing the stalls.<\/p>\n

\"binh<\/p>\n

Married couple D\u0169ng Anh Nguy\u1ec5n (left) and V\u00e2n Thanh Mai (right) have been running their textile stall in Ho Chi Minh City\u2019s Binh Tay Market for 38 years. <\/p>\n

Maria Hollenhorst\/Marketplace<\/p>\n

Married couple D\u0169ng Anh Nguy\u1ec5n and V\u00e2n Thanh Mai have been running one such stall for 38 years. They sell bolts of fabric and, more recently, have started selling scarves in order to cater to tourists. As they\u2019ve gotten older, they\u2019ve considered what might happen to their business. According to Mai, their children are unlikely to take it over. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are white-collar workers. They have office jobs,\u201d said Mai. \u201cA day at the market, it’s not stable like an office job.\u201d<\/p>\n

A garment factory weathers uncertainty<\/p>\n

About seven miles away from Binh Tay Market, on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, workers in a sewing factory put together dresses that end up in U.S. retailers like Target and Anthropologie.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, around 90% of our total product, we export,\u201d said Henry Pham, CEO of Dony Garment<\/a> and the owner of the factory. \u201cAnd 10% is local.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dony<\/p>\n

Dony Garment CEO Henry Pham (left), \u201cMarketplace\u201d host Kai Ryssdal (center), and ADP chief economist Nela Richardson (right) look at a bin of clothes in the Dony Garment sewing factory in Ho Chi Minh City.<\/p>\n

Andy V\u0169\/Marketplace<\/p>\n

Pham employs around 300 people. He said one of his priorities is to invest back into those workers and make their lives a little easier by, for example, installing air conditioning in his factory. But sudden changes in U.S. tariff policy<\/a> have thwarted his plans, leaving his factory only partially air-conditioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m most worried about policy change,\u201d said Pham. \u201cWe have to prepare around a minimum of two months for one [clothing] order. And you see that right now, the policy can change after two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

To hear more, use the play button at the top of the page.<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In our series \u201cThe Age of Work,\u201d Marketplace is looking at how labor force dynamics are changing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,37952,101,69374,256316,27998,3999],"class_list":{"0":"post-585600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-de-minimis","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-factories","12":"tag-garment-factories","13":"tag-textile","14":"tag-vietnam"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}