In January 2025, France 24 reported on rising living costs and expenses for women who migrated from rural Vietnam to take up jobs in Ho Chi Minh City. Interviews with workers reveals workers, including at Pou Chen's factories in Vietnam, are not paid enough to cover living costs, including rent, food or children’s school fees, understood as a form of low wage or poverty wages.

The reporting sets this trend against a context that “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”. The Resource Centre invited Pou Chen to respond to allegations of low wages and poverty wages for workers in Ho Chi Minh City; Pou Chen's response can be read in full below.