MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS, HO CHI MINH CITY --------------------------- FULBRIGHT ECONOMICS TEACHING PROGRAM NGUYEN THU HA WELFARE POLICY FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS IN HO CHI MINH CITY, A CASE STUDY IN TAN BINH DISTRICT Public Policy Major Code: 603114 MASTER OF PUBLIC POLICY THESIS ADVISOR Dr. PINCUS HO CHI MINH CITY - 2011 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CONTENTS CERTIFICATION. iv LIST OF FIGURES. v LIST OF TABLES.
vi CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION. Research questions of the study. The object, scope and purpose of the study. The structure of the study.
4 CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW. Demand for domestic workers in Vietnam. Supply of domestic workers in Vietnam. The number of domestic workers all over the world.
The situation of domestic workers. Policies to protect the rights of domestic workers. 12 CHAPTER 3 - RESEARCH METHODS. The purpose of the survey.
Subjects of the survey. Survey sample size and sampling methods. 14 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Data collection instruments.
Limitations of the survey method. 15 CHAPTER 4 - SURVEY RESULTS. Characteristics of domestic workers. Gender of DWs.
Age of DWs. How DWs find jobs. Years working as domestic worker. DWs’ current job.
Length of doing the current job. Income and expenditure. Health and Medical Care. Days off, leisure time and entertainment activities.
Relationship with employers. Legal awareness of DWs. Dishonesty of DWs. Irregular working hours.
Problems adopting labor contracts. It is difficult to control issues relevant to DWs. 40 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Exploitation of domestic workers.
The existence of child labor. “This is not a big problem”. Lack of the participation of labor unions in protecting DWs. Legal protections for domestic workers.
44 CHAPTER 6 - POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS. Recommendations for employers. Recommendations for the Government. Support for establishing companies that provide domestic service.
Issue the Decree guiding domestic services. Strengthen propaganda and education to improve legal awareness of laborers and employers. Establish Unions to protect DWs. Limitations and distributions of the study.
55 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com i CERTIFICATION I certify that I wrote this thesis myself. I certify that the study has not been submitted for any other degrees. I certify that any help received and all sources used have been acknowledged in this thesis with the best of my knowledge. The study does not necessarily reflect the views of the Ho Chi Minh City Economics University or Fulbright Economics Teaching Program.
Author Nguyen Thu Ha TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my deep gratitude to my parents and brother who always encourage me in my life, my studying and my career. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Pincus, for the continuous support of my study. With rich knowledge, experiences, patient, motivation and enthusiasm, his guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis.
Besides my advisor, I am grateful to Ms. Dinh Vu Trang Ngan for thoughtful and valuable comments on the survey and the early version of my work. I would like to thank to all teachers, librarians, laboratory assistants in Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, who have helped and retransmitted a lot of their knowledge and experience to me. I am indebted to many of my relatives, classmates and friends in class MPP3 who supported me to conduct the survey.
This thesis would not have been possible without their assistances. Last but not least, I would like to thank to all my friends, especially Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Giang, Mr. Ta Viet Bac, Mr.
Duong Tuan Anh, Ms. Nguyen Huong Giang, Ms. Dang Thi Tuyet Nhung, Ms. Ngo Hai Thanh, Ms.
Vo Thi Hoang Oanh, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Loan, and Ms. Bui Thi Phuong Thao who helped and motivated me in performing the study. Nguyen Thu Ha Ho Chi Minh City – April, 2011 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iii ABSTRACT This study analyzes practical issues about domestic workers in Ho Chi Minh City, which is based on the theory that domestic workers today are working in bad working condition with low wages, long working hour and face a range of exploitation, abuse, vulnerability and discrimination.
We conducted a survey to examine the situations of domestic workers in Tan Binh District of Ho Chi Minh City. We figured out that in this district the exploitation, discrimination and sexual abuse exist but is not common. And because of asymmetric information, employers become victims of dishonest domestic workers when they hire them. The market still lacks companies that offer trusted domestic workers and organizations who act to protect domestic worker welfare.
Therefore, the effective policy recommendations to better these situations are issuing realistic laws to control this market accompanied by actions to implement it such as strengthening the propaganda and education activities in poor areas, supporting the establishment of domestic service companies, and the role of the Women’s Unions in propaganda to change perceptions of both workers and employers. Key words: Domestic workers, exploitation, abuse, vulnerability, discrimination, domestic service companies, Women’s Union. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iv ABBREVIATIONS DWs : Domestic workers HCMC : Ho Chi Minh City NIS : National Institution of Statistic ILO : The International Labor Organization TBD : Tan Binh District USA : The United States of America TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4-1: Gender of DWs. 18 Figure 4-2: Number of DWs in groups of age.
19 Figure4-3: Highest certificate of education of DWs. 20 Figure 4-4: Family status of domestic workers. 21 Figure 4-5: Job status of domestic workers' spouses. 21 Figure 4-6: Years working as domestic workers.
22 Figure 4-7: The length that domestic workers do the current job. 26 Figure 4-8: Health of DWs in the sample. 30 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1: Subjects of the study. 3 Table 3-1: Subjects of the survey.
13 Table 4-1: How DWs are recruited. 21 Table 4-2: Number of DWs provided work by a domestic worker supplier in the past. 22 Table 4-3: Works in day of domestic workers. 24 Table 4-4: Working hours of domestic workers.
25 Table 4-5: Working conditions of DWs. 27 Table 4-6: Meals of DWs. 27 Table 4-7: Income of DWs in the sample. 28 Table 4-8: Expenditure of DWs in the sample.
29 Table 4-9 : Reward for DWs on Tet holiday. 29 Table 4-10: Bosses' treatment when DWs get ill. 30 Table 4-11: Person who pays DWs medical expense. 31 Table 4-12: Medical Insurance with DWs.
31 Table 4-13: Agree with one day off in a week. 32 Table 4-14: Activities of DWs at rest time. 32 Table 4-15: How DWs use the telephone. 35 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.
Problem statement The role of women in Vietnamese society is changing quickly. As women have entered the labor force and set up businesses, demand for domestic workers (DWs) has become very large. DWs have a big role in doing housework to ensure that the activities of the family can take place smoothly. The domestic worker is also indispensable in household business.
Unfortunately, the growth of domestic service is accompanied by the widespread abuse of labor, exploitation of maids, especially children. In many countries around the world, including Vietnam, domestic work has not been regarded as a professional occupation and there is no official legal framework to protect this workforce. In Vietnam, especially in big cities, the shortage of DWs is a frequent topic of discussion. Housemaids are a hot topic in the daily newspapers.
Two prominent examples are the stories of Nguyen Hao Anh in Ca Mau province and Nguyen Thi Binh in Hanoi. They were victims of the inhumane torture over more than ten years at the hands of their employers (Huynh Hai, Ngo Nguyen, 2010), (Huong Vu, Duy Hien, 2010). These cases shocked the public for a long time and were a warning signal about the exploitation of domestic workers. Currently, domestic service is not considered a formal job, and there is no specific agency assigned to monitor and manage this group (Than Hoang, 2010).
There are still no official data on DWs, only case material about abuse and exploitation of DWs reported in the media. As reported by the ILO in 2010 at the International Labor Conference, Manuela Tomei, Chief of the ILO’s Conditions of Work and Employment program, Social Protection Sector said that domestic work absorbs a significant proportion of the workforce, ranging between four to ten percent of total employment in developing countries and up to 2.5 percent of total employment in industrialized countries (ILO, 2010). In Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in 2006, there were an estimated 2,162 children in domestic work (ILO, 2006). In fact, children are a small part in this workforce, and the total is much greater.
TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 2 DWs have common characteristics including their origins in poor families, low educational attainment, and a lack of occupational skills. Their job is often doing housework or assisting household businesses. They often do not have labor contracts, but only a verbal agreement with employers. Between the employees and the employers, there are no legal obligations.
The consequence of this is that conflicts often occur. Because there is no basis for settlement, workers are subject to unfair treatment or abuse. On the other hand, employers also have to deal with the risks of dishonesty among DWs or other risks to their families. The Vietnamese Labor Code recognizes domestic service as a profession and DWs have the same rights and benefits as employees in other industries.1 However, the legislation can only be applied to those who have labor contracts.
In fact, most DWs work under informal arrangements. Both domestic workers and employers are not aware of this. Therefore, interest in contracts and benefits of contracting are still limited. It is difficult for DWs to protect their rights under the law.
Faced with this urgent situation, the government is preparing to issue a decree guiding what should be done to protect DWs. The contents of the decree will focus on such issues as the work of assistants, wages, working hours, working conditions, welfare policies and other relevant issues. Welfare issues for helpers are a topic of intense public interest and require timely intervention to ensure the rights of workers. Motivated by this situation, the present research contributes to providing a more practical basis for drafting the planned government decree on DWs, and investigates ways to make the decree more feasible in its implementation.
Research questions of the study This study attempts to answer two research questions as follows: 1. Why do DWs not have the same working conditions and benefits as employees in the formal sector? 1 Labor Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, June 23, 1994 as amended April 2, 2002, National Assembly. 2 “Snowball sampling” referred at http://www.com/snowball-sampling.html TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 3 In order to answer this central question, some following sub –questions should be asked: - What are the characteristics of DWs and their working conditions? - What welfare policies are available to them? - Are they receiving the benefits that they are entitled to? - What are the major reasons that they do not receive equal treatment? 2. What should be done to improve the welfare of domestic workers? 1.