Last week, we enjoyed a very nice dinner at one of the nicer hotels in Ho Chi Minh City. One of the people in the dinner party had previously worked at this hotel and told us that when he was there, he made 750,000VND/month. That’s 6 days a week, 10 hours a day. He quit because the money simply wasn’t enough. He has a young baby and, as is often the case, momma can’t produce enough milk. Supplemental milk costs 350,000VND/month—almost half his take home pay.

Keep in mind that this is a “fancy” hotel and at the higher end of the pay scale for service workers. Nowadays, a waiter typically makes 1,200,000VND/month. Speak English and your salary can go as high as 2,000,000VND/month.

As I write this, XE.com tells me that 1,000,000VND is USD $56.23. So, at the high end of the pay scale, people working 6×10 could be taking home as much as $112 a month.

Perspective? A new scooter, the ultimate status symbol, is $1,800. As a western family in HCMC, we pay $350/month in rent. A meal out for a family of four at a “typical” restaurant may only cost $12, but if you’re only making $112, that’s more than 10% of your monthly gross.

Is it any wonder that Vietnamese people are so industrious, often working as many as 3 jobs? They have to be to make ends meet. And with an inflation rate in the double digits, it’s going to get worse. This may be one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but the benefits of that haven’t really trickled down yet.

We went by a shopping center near the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. It looked as if it had been transplanted from any city in the US. High end shops, KFC, Pizza Hut. Big, expensive hotel on one end, anchoring the mall. Prices were ridiculous, relatively speaking. Many prices were equivalent to their US counterparts or higher. Estee Lauder makeup, for example, was more expensive than in San Diego. How do you justify spending 800,000VND on face powder when you make 1,200,000VND? You can’t. Clearly, this mall was for tourists, ex-pats and the very wealthy.

Back to our dinner at the nice hotel. The bill? 750,000VND, with tip.