Many Vietnamese workers at industrial zones are saying they can’t earn enough to make ends meet and will soon seek other jobs.
A worker having lunch at her rented room in Danang City
Pham Thi H has been working for a company in Bac Ninh Province for a month. After graduating from high school, H helped her parents at their family's shop in Cam Thuy District in Thanh Hoa Province for two years. She then followed her cousin to seek better opportunities. Living some 200 kilometres from home, H said that her salary of VND5 million (USD240) a month was just enough to cover basic needs.
“I’m not going to stay here long," the 21-year-old worker said. "I’m now spending all I can make. I now intend to go abroad to work for some years so that I can put aside some money for the future. Not only me but many of my colleagues here don’t want to take this work long. They are just waiting for an opportunity."
Hoang Thi X who is working for Foster Company in the Tu Son Industrial Zone, Bac Ninh Province, is sharing a small rented room near her company with a colleague.
"We don’t buy much furniture, no TV, no fridge, partly because we are sending all we can save home to support our children," X says. "Another reason is that we don’t intend to work here long."
X comes from Bac Son District in Lang Son Province, which is some 80 kilometres from her workplace. She has been working here for nearly two years with a salary of just over VND5 million.
“Our life is very difficult with this modest income but I’m still staying here to wait for new opportunities. Or maybe I'll return my hometown soon to find new work."
Many young parents who are both workers are also finding it hard to settle in local industrial zones due to the low income.
Nguyen Thi Q and her husband from central Nghe An Province have been working for an electronics company in Hanoi's Bac Thang Long Industrial Zone for four years now. Their total income of nearly VND9 million a month seems too small to cover daily expenses, especially since they have two children.
"With this income we’ll never be able to buy a house," Q says. "So we’ll return our hometown soon to stay with our parents and do farming again."
Q says that many young people from her area are flocking to cities to seek better work and higher incomes at industrial zones but are disappointed.
"We are always looking for a chance to leave our company," Q explains. "I know farm work is harder and doesn’t bring much money either but at least life in the countryside is cheaper and we don’t have to worry about buying a house."
However, a recent survey by Vietnam General Confederation of Labour at 60 enterprises in ten provinces and cities including Hanoi, Yen Bai, Nam Dinh, Vinh Phuc, Hai Duong, Thua Thien - Hue, Danang, HCM City, Can Tho and Ben Tre showed a different situation. When questioned about their future plans, as much as 78.8 per cent of workers say they will stay long with their companies, 17.5 per cent say they want to find a new job and 3.7 per cent say they have no plan.
