Nghe An rice homeland receives 200 million USD in remittances each year

Get rich through overseas labor

We went to Ma Thanh commune (Yen Thanh), one of the localities with a high proportion of overseas workers in the district. From a poor mountainous commune, the income of households depends only on the crops, life is always difficult.

Yet, today, when we returned to Ma Thanh commune, we were surprised by the rapid changes in this village, which was considered poor. The old low-roofed houses were replaced by spacious high-rise buildings, and the village roads were all concreted and shaded by green trees.

Spacious high-rise buildings in Do Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) were built from exported labor. Photo: PV

Mr. Bui Huy Nhuan in Dong Bau 1 hamlet, Ma Thanh commune said: "Before, my husband and I had a very difficult life, all year round we only depended on a few fields. About 8 years ago, we sent our 2 children to work in Germany and our life changed. Every year, our 2 children send back about 1 billion VND."

In Ma Thanh, many other households such as Mr. Tran Dinh Diem's ​​family have 3 children working abroad in Eastern European countries and send back 1.5-1.8 billion VND/year. Mr. Bui Trong Long - Chairman of Ma Thanh Commune People's Committee added: Up to now, the whole commune has about 1,500 exported workers, of which about 500 workers go to Germany, England, France, the rest go to markets in Korea, Japan, Thailand, Laos...

In 2018 alone, the amount of remittances sent to Ma Thanh commune was over 2 million USD, which can be said to be a "huge" amount of remittances compared to a poor commune. Thanks to labor export, the face of Ma Thanh has changed more and more. Specifically, the poverty rate from 12.5% ​​in 2015, in 2018 the poverty rate decreased to 3.68%.

Average income in 2015 was 21 million VND/person/year, now it has reached over 38 million VND/person/year. From a poor commune, Ma Thanh has now reached the new rural finish line in 2018.

The labor export movement in Do Thanh commune is also developing strongly. Located in the northeast of Yen Thanh district, bordering Dien Chau district. Do Thanh is a poor commune, people's lives mainly depend on rice. In the early 1990s, workers in Do Thanh went to work abroad in countries such as Germany, Poland, Russia...

At first, they went in small numbers, but when they did well, they brought their brothers and relatives to work abroad. Therefore, the number of people going abroad to work increased day by day. Thanks to that, the lives of the people here have changed day by day.

Currently, Do Thanh has more than 330 “billionaires” with 10 billion VND or more, about 2,100 multi-storey houses, and over 400 cars of all kinds. Besides, there are many other communes that have become rich thanks to labor export, such as Son Thanh commune, which always has 1,500 - 1,800 children of workers in European countries.

Every year, local people send back over 100 billion VND. Thanks to that money, people invest in building houses and investing in real estate and production and business.

In 2018, in Yen Thanh district, there were 15,278 people currently working in the following countries: Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Australia, USA, UK, Malaysia... Every year, children working in Yen Thanh send back to their homeland 200 million USD, equivalent to nearly 4.7 trillion VND.

Mr. Vu Van Quyen - Deputy Head of Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Yen Thanh district

Local support

Recognizing the benefits of labor export, Yen Thanh has developed, deployed, and implemented a project, creating conditions and encouraging businesses and individuals working in labor export to recruit workers in the area.

The district actively propagates to each citizen and worker that labor export is one of the right directions to help them effectively escape poverty. The district People's Committee has issued documents urging and guiding the People's Committees of communes, towns, and unions to coordinate activities effectively, and at the same time directs the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to advise and promptly handle any problems arising in labor recruitment to protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers.

Vocational training for labor export in Yen Thanh.

Implement well the State management of labor export in the area. Strengthen inspection and prevention of violations in labor export consulting and recruitment. In particular, the district propagates and mobilizes workers working in the Korean market to return home on time, provides a list of workers whose contracts have expired or are about to expire in Korea to communes and towns to propagate and mobilize workers to return home to reduce the rate of illegal workers living in Korea.

Timely resolve the State and provincial support policies on loans, support for vocational training costs, foreign language learning, and knowledge training for workers participating in overseas labor export.

Mr. Vu Van Quyen - Deputy Head of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Yen Thanh district added: Yen Thanh continues to expand and develop the labor export market in the direction of maintaining traditional markets with stable jobs and income. At the same time, introduce new orders and new markets, with special attention to labor export under the technical internship program in Germany, nursing in Japan, and labor combined with vacation in Australia...