Vietnam’s consistently high levels of growth in manufacturing in recent years have contributed significantly to reducing poverty as well as increasing foreign exchange revenues. The garment and footwear industries have played a prominent role in this process; they are the two manufacturing sectors with the largest market share and also are among the sectors experiencing highest growth. Vietnam is expected to join the WTO in late 2006 and has already completed the 28 bilateral trade agreements necessary for accession. Any major impacts (positive or negative) to the manufacturing sector as a result of trade liberalization will have major implications for the large numbers of low waged, unskilled, female, migrant workers who represent a large proportion of the total workers in the sector. That this group of workers were very recently lifted out of poverty by the opportunity of waged labor in the garment and footwear sectors is also significant, since it increases the likelihood that downwards pressure on wages and/or productivity will cause them and their family members to return to their previous poverty levels.