Migration, repatriation and consequences

Migration concerns

Xong Ba Tua and Ly Y Sua (living in Muong Long 2 village, Muong Long commune, Ky Son district) are only in their early 20s but already have 2 children. Earlier this year, because they had no jobs at home and economic conditions were difficult, the couple sent their children to their grandparents and went to Binh Duong to work. The trip seemed to last a long time but was suddenly interrupted becauseCovid-19 epidemicThe outbreak happened and both of them had to "escape the epidemic" and travel more than 1000 km back by motorbike.

The entire Muong Long commune has 229 people returning during this epidemic, of which 21 cases have tested positive for Covid-19. This is probably also the most difficult time for the commune government when it has to do a good job of centralized isolation while ensuring disease prevention and control for local people.

Mr. Ly Ba Xong - Secretary of the Party Committee of Muong Long commune said: "In the past 5 years, the number of workers in the area going to work far away has increased and currently there are about 1,500 workers who have not returned. This is inevitable because the number of people of working age in the commune is increasing but there are fewer and fewer jobs and they are forced to go far away to find a living."

Nghe An has tens of thousands of workers working in provinces across the country. Photo: MH.

Since April, Ky Son district has welcomed 4,000 workers returning from the southern provinces. However, this number is only a small number of the more than 17,000 workers of the district working in industrial parks in the southern provinces. In addition, Ky Son has about 5,000 workers in other districts, cities and towns in the whole province.

Mr. Le Hong Lap - Head of the Labor Department of Ky Son district also said: "In recent years, the number of Ky Son workers migrating to work has increased every year, each year increasing more than the previous year. Many of these workers only finished 9th grade and dropped out of school to go to work, and they are mainly manual laborers."

In fact, working away from home also brings positive results because it solves the problem of unemployment and underemployment in the locality. However, when workers return, it also creates pressure, especially at the present time because in addition to ensuring quarantine and epidemic prevention, the problem of job creation is more far-reaching. Meanwhile, if unemployment persists, it will lead to consequences such as reoccurrence of deforestation and social evils.

Nghe An workers return home after the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: MH

In the whole province, from April to now, the number of Nghe An workers returning from the epidemic area is over 78,000 people. Of which, 19,592 people of working age lost their jobs due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, accounting for 25%.

Previously, according to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, there are currently over 120,000 Nghe An workers residing and working in other provinces and cities across the country; mainly young workers concentrated in the age group of 15-35 years old (accounting for 65%), female workers account for over 50%. Workers mainly work in factories, industrial parks, economic zones, export processing zones, high-tech zones in fields such as electronics, garment, leather shoes or freelance in big cities such as: Hanoi 5,313 people, Ho Chi Minh City 49,466 people, Binh Duong 26,231 people, Bac Ninh 14,000 people, Dong Nai 6,567 people, Hai Duong 3,249 people, Quang Ninh 6,000 people...

Nghe An is also one of the localities with the largest number of workers working outside the province in the country. This trend of labor migration has not only occurred in recent years, but has lasted for nearly 20 years.

The impacts

Migration is the movement of population from one country to another, from one administrative unit to another. Internal migration can be understood as from one district to another or from one province or city to another. Internal migration plays an important role in population change, especially in the context of relatively stable birth and death rates in the area.

Nghe An workers participate in foreign language interviews to work in Japan. Photo: Thanh Nga

In Nghe An, according to the investigation resultspopulationIn 2019, the number of internal migrants (within the district, between districts, between provinces) was nearly 80,000 people. This number has fluctuated a lot compared to 2009. Notably, although the population is continuously increasing, migration is showing signs of decreasing in both quantity and rate, migrants tend to choose migration destinations within their familiar range.

Currently, the whole province has nearly 3 million people aged 5 and over, the number of migrants is 111,000 people, accounting for 3.7%, of which the number of migrants within the district and between districts accounts for 1.6% and 0.6% respectively; the group of migrants between provinces accounts for the lowest rate of 0.5%. At this time, Nghe An is still a province with a negative net migration rate (-30.3‰) because the number of emigrants is greater than the number of immigrants.

In the decade 1999 - 2009, the increasing migration trend was mainly due to the policy of encouraging migration to new economic zones, and migration became increasingly popular in the context of a strong economic development accompanied by a shift in economic structure from agriculture to industry and services as well as the explosion of industrial and export processing zones. However, in the decade 2009 - 2019, the successful implementation of target programs and socio-economic projects in localities, typically the National Target Program on New Rural Development, has narrowed the economic gap between urban and rural areas, between regions, thereby reducing the number of migrants during this period.

According to statistics, employment is one of the main reasons affecting the decision to move of inter-provincial migrants, while family reasons are the decisive factor for the movement of intra-provincial migrants. Specifically, the majority of migrants decided to move to a new place of residence for reasons of marriage (49.9%); following family/moving house (27.3%) or finding a job/starting a new job (12.4%). Of which, more than half (56.8%) of intra-district migrants and nearly half (46.7%) of inter-district migrants migrated for reasons of marriage.

Migration from other provinces is no exception, the reasons for migration are marriage (31.3%), finding a job/starting a new job (29.8%) and following family/moving house (20.2%).

Reality also shows that migration creates positive and negative impacts for both the destination and the place of departure. In particular, the positive impact on the place of departure is to solve the problem of surplus labor and reduce the unemployment rate.poverty reduction, contributing to the development of the homeland. Along with that, creating a quality labor source when they return, because migrants working elsewhere will learn skills, improve their skills and especially soft skills in all fields.

People of Tan Ky district work at a factory in the area. Photo: MH.

For the destination, the migration phenomenon will compensate for the shortage of skilled labor for the process of economic restructuring; service development, because immigrant labor will lead to the development of other service industries at the destination. However, too much migration, for the place of departure, will cause a shortage of labor in some industries and occupations, hindering the implementation of economic restructuring plans of the place of departure, creating social consequences. For the place of destination, the migration situation will put great pressure on infrastructure (electricity, water, transportation, health, education and environmental resources); create a burden on social security and disrupt local planning. This reality is also happening in many localities in Nghe An, especially now that the demand for recruiting labor for industrial parks and factories is very high but there is a shortage of labor resources.

Surveys on the number of migrants coming and going in the province are also the basis for assessing the quality and quantity of the province's labor force and for finding long-term solutions to build a local economic and social development strategy. Migration fluctuations also affect the statistics of the Population Department and many new issues arise related to labor quality, population quality, etc.