Hardworking... going out

The fields are getting smaller and smaller, the rice grains are produced with great difficulty and carry dozens of expenses, raising livestock is also not profitable... as a result, farmers work hard but their income is too low. Not being interested in the fields and not having a side job also means poverty! The hard-working rural women have flocked to the city, hoping that life will be better than in the bamboo village.

The life of freelance workers in Vinh Quang block, Hung Binh ward, Vinh city.

Going to the city to find work is the choice of many people. Some people look for long-term work, but others only make a living during their free time. Whether it is for a few days or half a month or for years away from home, this type of spontaneous migration is still increasing, not only among female workers, causing the "aging" of the labor force in rural villages. With the characteristics of mostly unskilled and untrained workers, the jobs they find are usually day laborers at markets, construction workers, restaurant servers, housekeepers, etc. This labor force also accounts for a significant number in industrial zones, especially female workers in the garment and seafood processing industries. Although some employment service and vocational training centers under agencies and organizations such as the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in localities, the Women's Union, the Youth Union, etc. have the function of career orientation and counseling, most workers do not know how to find these centers. Most of them are "self-employed", in the village people tell each other, or some lucky people are introduced by brothers and relatives living in the city... Jobs may or may not be suitable for health conditions and strengths, but most are unstable and have little long-term potential.

In fact, working in the city has brought about changes in the lives of workers and their families. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuan, hamlet 4 Nghi Xa, Nghi Loc, compared: "At home, working in agriculture, minus the cost of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and all kinds of other expenses, each day's wages are only from 1,000 to 1,200 VND. Carrying a basket of fruit, cycling into the city at 5am, returning at 7pm, sometimes later, it's hard work but still earns 20 to 30 thousand VND. Some days, even 50 thousand VND." Ms. Thuan's family and hundreds of other households in the commune have been able to buy televisions, buy motorbikes, and send their children to school, thanks to the "non-agricultural" income in the city. Therefore, Nghi Xa - the commune with the largest area of ​​production land recovered to build the Nam Cam industrial park in Nghi Loc district (160 hectares), many households have stopped farming, rented it out to others, and flocked to Vinh... to find work!

Although they earn more money, workers also face countless difficulties when they move to the city. First of all, it is a temporary life, poor living conditions, and unsanitary conditions in cheap boarding houses. Vinh Quang Block, Hung Binh Ward is home to more than 500 migrant workers, most of whom are scrap collectors. They come from all over the countryside, but the largest number are from Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Yen Thanh, Do Luong and Thanh Hoa and Nam Dinh provinces... At the house of the owner Ho Viet Thanh, in a boarding house of about 25 square meters, dark, smelling of sweat, tobacco and clothes scattered on wooden planks, where more than 20 people live, Ms. Van, from Thieu Hoa district, Thanh Hoa, said: "We are all from the same village, there are 2 families also living together here. We leave in the morning and come back in the evening. The boarding house is just a place to sleep, so we rent a "group" to save money...". In addition to the risks that always lurk for freelance workers (male and female) such as being easily lured into social evils, for female workers, the risk of being violated in dignity, sexually harassed, and human trafficking is high. According to statistics from the Provincial Police, from 1998 to present, more than 700 women and girls have been trafficked in 18/19 districts and towns (except Vinh city), the largest number being Quynh Luu: 76 people; Con Cuong: 49; Dien Chau: 32; Anh Son: 31... Age: over 16 years old accounts for 95%, under 16 years old accounts for 5%. Most of those who are sold have unstable jobs, many of whom are migrant workers to the city to work. Not only the difficulties for workers, but the situation of migration to the city to find work in general, and of women in particular, also poses many challenges to society. The number of people is always fluctuating; Insecurity, disorder, and increasing environmental pollution... are difficulties for local authorities in managing freelance workers in the area.

Currently, spontaneous migration to the city to find work as mentioned, although not encouraged, is not prevented. While waiting for solutions to create jobs for rural workers right in the locality, such as vocational training, recruiting workers whose land has been recovered to work in industrial zones, borrowing capital for overseas labor..., equipping workers with knowledge about safe migration is very necessary and an "immediate action" for relevant levels and sectors.

Nguyet Anh