Dien Hanh Commune in Dien Chau District has seen a large number of people going abroad to work over the past 10 years after struggling to make ends meet with farming work at home.

According to Chairman of Dien Hanh Commune People's Committee, Nguyen Manh Ho, some 1,600 out of 9,000 residents are currently working abroad, mostly in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the USA, and Canada, sending tens of millions of USD every year.

"They've decided to seek better income abroad after finding it hard to support their families with farm work," the official said. "And many of them have sent money home for their families to build luxury houses and cars."

In Do Thanh Commune in the neighbouring Yen Thanh District, many families have also become rich thanks to receiving remittance from overseas. And the rural commune has also seen the appearance of many big houses and villas.

Luyen Xuan Hue, Chairman of Do Thanh Commune People's Committee, said that there are 11,000 people of working age in the area and 1,500 of them have gone abroad to work, mostly in the UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, and South Korea.

"We used to be among the poorest communes in Nghe An in the 1980s when most local people did farming and woodworking," Hue said. "The changes have started in the 1990s when the first residents went to work abroad. Now almost all families have at least one member working abroad who are sending home over USD200 million annually. Between 70-90 percent of houses in our commune have been built from overseas remittance."

Nguyen Trung used to be a low-income family in Do Thanh before his three sons went to work in Germany.

"They're sending home hundreds of millions of Dong every year and we've built a big villa and a car as our life has become better," Trung shared.

Speaking with Dantri, deputy head of the Yen Thanh District Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Vu Van Quyen, said that some 20,000 residents in the district are working abroad.

"Labour export has helped improve the lives of local people and we've been able to invest in developing infrastructure and many start-up projects for local young people thanks to the remittance sent from workers abroad."