The number of wildcat strikes in Vietnam doubled last year as workers suffering from Asia’s highest inflation rate struggled to obtain better wages. Vietnam has been successful in recent years in attracting low-cost manufacturers looking to escape rapid wage rises in southern China.

But investors warn more progress is needed on economic reform and industrial relations if that trend is to continue.

There were 857 strikes in the first 11 months of 2011, when annual inflation averaged over 18 per cent, according to government figures. That is more than double the number of strikes in 2010 and more than in 2008. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012)