The survey, announced on Thursday, was conducted in 25 cities and provinces of Vietnam over a period of two months, and surveyed over 3,000 Vietnamese workers in 150 businesses.

It says an average worker’s minimum spending is VND6.5 million ($290) each month, while the average base salary is only VND4.6 million.

When it comes to how an average worker’s household spends their budget, 17.4 percent said they have “more than enough,” 43.7 percent said “just enough,” 26.5 percent said they were “barely getting by,” while 12.5 percent said their incomes were not enough to support their families, and have to work overtime or work extra jobs to make ends meet.

Compared to last year, the number of workers who reported to be earning “more than enough” has increased by 1.3 percent, while the figures for the “just enough” and “barely getting by” camps decreased by 7.6 percent and increased by 8.5 percent, respectively.

44 percent said they do work overtime, with an average time of 28.5 hours to earn an extra VND832,000 each month.

Vietnam's minimum wage, between VND2.76-3.98 million ($120-173), is used by businesses to calculate salaries for their workers by multiplying the base level by a coefficient assigned to each worker, based on their skills and experience.

The labor confederation is currently proposing to the government to increase the current minimum wage by 8 percent next year.