Ethnic Minority Youth Flock to Cities, Searching for Employment Opportunities

Quang Thi Lan works at an industrial park in the northern province of Bac Giang, where she earns VND10 million ($440) per month, including overtime and bonuses. Her salary is the equivalent of what her family makes growing rice and corn in a small ethnic village. That’s why the girl from the Thai ethnic group decided to leave her village in the northern mountainous province of Son La seven years ago when she was 19 years old to work in the city, hoping for a better life. “I am now the breadwinner for my family. I can also save money to build a new house. Many people from my village want to work in industrial parks as well,” she told Tien Phong (Pioneer) newspaper. Many young ethnic people living in mountainous remote areas like Lan have recently headed to the cities, bringing not only positive changes but also negative impacts to the ethnic community. According to the National Assembly’s Committee of Ethnic Affairs, those from ethnic minority groups account for more than 55% of the total number of poor people nationwide. Since last year, more than ten of Lan’s cousins in Muong Bam Commune have left the village to work with her. Than Duc Thi, the owner of a rented house complex where Lan and her cousins stay in Bac Gian Province, said there had been an influx of ethnic minority workers from northern mountainous provinces to the area. Before 2017, most workers were from lowland areas, but now 70% of his guests were ethnic people. Lo Van Sam, chairman of Tong Lanh Commune, Thuan Chau District, Son La Province, said last year about 600 local people moved to the cities and industrial parks. Each of them earns between VND5 million and VND7 million per month, and many can afford to buy expensive items for their families and build new houses now. “The positive thing is that we have a generation of young people who dare to take action to improve their lives,” he said. Quang Van Kien and his wife are an example. In 2014, Kien moved to downtown Son La Province, then Hanoi and Lam Dong, and worked for aluminum and glass door stores while his wife was hired to sew clothes. Two years later, after learning how to do their jobs, they returned to their village to open their own stores. Last year the couple earned VND400 million and plan to open more shops in downtown Son La. Chairman Sam said thanks to the number of young people heading to the towns, local people were less dependent on authorities.

Dark side

Most young people have moved to the cities, leaving only old people and children behind in the villages. 60-year-old Luong Van Duong and his wife have to take care of ten grandchildren while his sons and daughters are working in the cities. Some of them only visit home once or twice a year. Duong is worried that his grandchildren lack attention from their parents. “Many of my grandchildren are reaching puberty with a lot of changes to their physical and mental health. I am worried that without their parents, they will be influenced by social evils.” Living in a small house nearby, Quang Van Buon, 80, feels empty as most of the family members have left. The old man feels tired having to care for his paralyzed wife and raise a grandchild without support from his sons and daughters. Ly A Phao, an ethnic migrant worker from Mu Cang Chai, Yen Bai province, said ethnic minority people working in the cities are like Vietnamese working overseas in the Middle East or East Asia countries. They face risks like language barriers, scams and being exploited. Young ethnic people are also easily lured by temptations from social evils. Bui Van Lich, head of the Ethnic Policy Department at the National Assembly’s Committee of Ethnic Affairs, said the large-scale migration from the mountains to the cities had not been fully reviewed by management agencies. “We are following the migration to prepare a socio-economic development program for ethnic minority people for 2021-30 and a national target program to be submitted to the National Assembly in May. This will serve as a foundation to approve new policies to offer more training and job orientations for them,” he told. (Vietnam News)