Western Nghe An village is deserted, lacking labor
(Baonghean.vn) - Although the villages and hamlets in the Western districts still need labor for production and livestock raising, many people still choose to leave their hometowns to find work. There are cases where the whole family goes, many people choose to leave their children to be cared for by their grandparents.
Deserted village, labor shortage
Coming to the border villages of Tam Hop commune, Tuong Duong district in late April 2023, whether it is early morning or late afternoon, the common scene is still houses with locked doors. In the houses with people, most of them are old people past working age sitting by the door, or children playing around the garden.
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Ms. Vi Thi Tim in Vang Mon village, Tam Hop commune (Tuong Duong) looks after her grandchildren while her son and his wife go to the South to find work. Photo: HT |
It was past 11am, at the house located right next to the slope of the main road leading to Vang Mon village, Mrs. Vi Thi Tim sat at the edge of the door, next to her was a baby just over 1 year old who could not speak yet. Mrs. Tim said that currently, the house only had an old couple and a grandson who could not walk yet. More than a month ago, the child's parents went to the South to look for work, leaving the child at home for the grandparents to look after.
Vang Mon village has 79 households with 328 people. According to the copy of Luong Van Thuan, as of April 15, 2023, the village had 68 people working far away, of which 3 people went to work abroad. Many people left their hometowns, so the village was deserted. "Most of the people who go to the South to find work are the main laborers in the family. In Vang Mon, many people go to work far away, but the economic efficiency is not high. They mainly go to apply for jobs as workers in rubber plantations, or work as day laborers, so the monthly income is not much" - Mr. Luong Van Thuan said.
Also in the deserted situation, lacking labor for production and livestock farming, in Pha Lom village, Secretary of Pha Lom Party Cell - Mr. Xong Ba Giay said, in the whole village of 128 households, currently there are 156 pillars of labor of the families who have left their hometown to find work, not counting the children who followed. The main labor force, young people who left their hometown, mainly went to the South to find many jobs. Therefore, in Pha Lom, although there is potential for developing livestock farming, growing turmeric, ginger and some other forest products such as bo bo, the lack of workers makes the production efficiency not high.
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A corner of Vang Mon village, Tam Hop commune. Photo: HT |
Pha Lom village chief, Mr. Xong Ba Cho, also confided that collective movements in the village and commune are also weaker because few people participate.
In Huoi Son village, talking about the desertedness of the village, Vu Ba Ma, a deputy director, said that the main labor force of the families went to find work far away, about 70%. Some families migrated with their entire families, husband and wife, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren. It was also difficult to find people to participate in the movements.
Village cadres resign
At the end of March 2023, sharing on social media about the uncertainty of leaving his hometown to find work in the southern provinces, Mr. Gia Tong Bi in Pha Chieng village, My Ly commune, Ky Son said that he and some people in Pha Chieng invited each other to go to the South to find work. His group got a job tapping rubber latex at a plantation in Chon Thanh district, Binh Phuoc province. Gia Tong Bi was the head of Pha Chieng village before going to work far away.
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A familiar image in the villages of the West: Children go to work far away, grandparents take care of their grandchildren and grow crops and raise livestock. Photo: HT |
Talking about his decision to leave his hometown, Mr. Gia Tong Bi said that in the past, in My Ly, he only needed to diligently raise cattle and grow some crops to make a living because the price of cattle and buffalo was quite high. However, for more than a year now, the price of cattle and buffalo has been continuously going downhill, his family raised about ten cows but could not sell much, life became more and more difficult. Therefore, the couple decided to go to the South to find work, and locked the house and asked neighbors to occasionally watch it.
In the early days in the South, he and his wife had not yet found a job at the rubber plantation, so they worked as day laborers, doing whatever they were hired for at a rate of 35,000 VND/day; mainly installing water pipes, clearing weeds in the garden... Currently, he and his wife and some people who came with them have found jobs tapping rubber latex, with a salary of 300,000 VND/day. However, Gia Tong Bi also confided that when the rubber latex tapping season ends, they still do not know what jobs they will find, so life is precarious, with unstable income, while rent and food still have to be paid regularly.
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People from My Ly, Ky Son district apply for jobs in Binh Phuoc province. Photo provided by the character |
In many other communes of Ky Son, the situation of village cadres, association and mass organization cadres asking to quit their jobs to go to the South to find work also happens quite often. In Bao Thang commune, Party Secretary Vi Thi Dam said that at the beginning of each year, the commune receives resignation applications from a number of village cadres or association and mass organization cadres with the reason of going to find work.
Explaining the reason, Ms. Vi Thi Dam said that, in addition to the difficulties in production and animal husbandry, the allowances for village cadres, associations and unions are too low, forcing them to find other jobs to support their families and children.
According to the leader of the People's Committee of Ky Son district, in 2022, nearly 12,000 workers in the district left their hometowns to find jobs, mainly in the southern provinces. People who go to work far away are mainly the main laborers and young people. Therefore, the villages are currently quite deserted, mainly the elderly and children. In their hometowns, there is a shortage of laborers for production and livestock farming.
According to our research, not only in Ky Son, but also in many other districts and towns, the number of people leaving their hometowns to find jobs is increasing. Among them, there are many village, commune and ward officials.
The number of unemployed people of working age in the first quarter of 2023 was about 1.05 million, down 34.6 thousand people compared to the previous quarter and down 65.1 thousand people compared to the same period last year. The unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2023 was 2.25%. The labor market in the first quarter of 2023 continued to maintain its recovery momentum. However, there is still a situation where many enterprises in some labor-intensive industries (recruiting a large number of workers, exceeding the production scale) such as textile, footwear, electrical and electronic enterprises, etc. When there is a lack of orders, these industries are forced to cut labor, leading to an impact on the domestic labor and employment situation, causing an imbalance in labor between regions and localities and increasing the unemployment rate.