Vietnam is among the world's largest exporters of clothing, footwear and furniture and Ho Chi Minh City and its hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have for decades helped power its manufacturing boom.

The southern metropolis offered stable jobs with decent pay, and young women in particular flocked to garment and shoe factories, where the workforce is three-quarters female.

But as living costs surge, Hiep is joining a wave of workers rejecting the commercial hub for a quieter life back home -- leaving city businesses struggling to fill their ranks.

"I have stayed in this city long enough," Hiep, 42, told AFP after her shift at a factory owned by Taiwan's Pou Chen, one of the biggest and best-paying shoe manufacturers in the country.

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Housing, utility, healthcare and education costs are rising across the country, and workers in Ho Chi Minh City say their salaries can no longer meet their needs.

So Hiep and her husband, a motorbike taxi driver, have decided to leave...

Struggling to afford food and schooling, Truong Thi Le, also a Pou Chen worker, made the heartbreaking decision to send her six-year-old daughter to live with her uncle in Quang Binh...