Unemployed workers return home, worsen situation in rural areas

Workers weaving bags from sedge at a unit in Nam Dinh Province. People working away from home who lost their jobs due to the economic downturn may not find employment if they return to their villages.

The economic downturn has seen production fall in the countryside, sending incomes plunging and increasing the jobless rate, according a recent report by the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD). Researchers said this has been exacerbated by the return of many native residents who lost their jobs elsewhere. The institute, belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, also found most rural residents have also cut back on both their consumption and investments. Many households have slipped below the poverty line, with mountainous regions being the hardest hit. IPSARD’s report follows research it did on the impact of the economic downturn on people in rural areas at the insistence of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee. The study, which was supported by the Dutch development organization SNV, polled residents in 584 communes in four provinces – Nam Dinh in the Red River Delta, Lang Son in the northern mountainous region, Binh Thuan on the central coast and An Giang in the Mekong Delta. Most people in these communes live on farming and fishing though researchers found much farmland left fallow this year. Rising unemployment More than 21 percent of domestic migrant workers hailing from these provinces have returned home this year. 17 percent of those who had gone abroad to work also returned in the first quarter. Only 11.3 percent of the returnees have found jobs, while in mountainous regions the number is between 2.7 and 7.4. The survey also found many hired farm workers have become jobless, with the rates climbing in coastal area and delta regions. Without quoting specific numbers, the report said an average of 85.3 percent of farm workers in the four provinces have lost their jobs. Among factory workers, the layoff rate is 8.8 percent. Poverty, hunger spread More than 68 percent of 584 communes surveyed said residents have cut down their expenses on food, specifically meat and fish, by an average of 18.5 percent. They have also spent 25.9 percent less on construction and 23.6 percent less on high-value goods. In the four provinces surveyed, the number of communes having poor families has increased by nearly 16 percent over 2008. An Giang topped the list at 19.6 percent. This has affected the “hunger elimination and poverty reduction” program, the report said. A person earning less than VND200,000 a month in rural areas and VND260,000 in urban areas is considered poor. Shrinking production Farmers reported that they have had to sell farm produce at 14 percent lower prices than last year, and have been unable to sell some produce. Both rural and mountainous areas have found difficulty in selling farm produce, the report said. Nearly 5 percent of farmlands have been left uncultivated in the winter-spring season, while 0.7 percent more fish farms than in 2008 have remained fallow this year. In the four provinces, more than 15 percent of small industries have closed down this year. Another 8 percent had to cut back on production and lay off workers. The industries also reported their products fetched 14.6 percent lower prices than usual. Reported by Giang An