MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY --- --- NGUYEN THI NHUNG LABOR SUPPLY OF VIETNAMESE BRIDES’ HOUSEHOLDS – A CASE STUDY IN VINH LONG MASTER OF PUBLIC POLICY THESIS HO CHI MINH CITY - 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY FULBRIGHT ECONOMICS TEACHING PROGRAM --- --- NGUYEN THI NHUNG LABOR SUPPLY OF VIETNAMESE BRIDES’ HOUSEHOLDS – A CASE STUDY IN VINH LONG Public Policy Major Code: 60340402 MASTER OF PUBLIC POLICY THESIS SUPERVISOR DR. PINCUS HO CHI MINH CITY - 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com -i- CERTIFICATION I certify that I wrote this thesis myself. I certify that the substance of the thesis has not already been submitted for any degree and is not being currently submitted for any other degree. I certify that any help and all sources have been acknowledged in this thesis with my best of knowledge.
The study does not necessary reflect the views of the Ho Chi Minh City Economics University or Fulbright Economics Teaching Program. Author Nguyen Thi Nhung LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com -ii- To my family, friends, FETP and my supervisor Dr. Pincus For the foundation of love And the structure of support LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com -iii- TABLE OF CONTENS CERTIFICATION. i TABLE OF CONTENS.
vii LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF FIGURES. ix LIST OF BOXES. Research statement of the study.
Data and methodology. The structure of the study. 3 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW. The hours of work decision.
The hours of work changes when non-labor income changes. Empirical studies of labor supply. 8 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHOD. The structure of the survey.
9 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Survey sample size and sampling method. Data collection instrument. Limitations of the survey.
11 CHAPTER 4 LABOR SUPPLY OF TRANSNATIONAL WOMEN’S HOUSEHOLDS IN VINH LONG. Transnational marriages affect the livelihood strategies of the relevant households 14 4. The support of married women. Changes in hours of work, leisure activities and incomes.
Changes in labor supply of male relatives of transnational brides. Job types, occupations and hours of work. Unemployment and dependency ratio. The support from male relatives to transnational brides.
Households should develop their economics activities and make use of remittances. Education should be available to the people to find job opportunities. Migrant’s households should invest and help other households. 47 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Limitations of the study. 50 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com -vi- ABSTRACT This study examines the labor supply of households in Vinh Long Province in which at least one female member has left the country after marrying a foreign national. It compares characteristics of 168 married women’s households. In particular, the study focuses on households in which women marry foreigners voluntarily.
Transnational marriage has been common in many districts of Vinh Long for a long time. Women who marry foreigners contribute to the well-being of their households of origin. Households in which transnational women have lived abroad have more children and elderly than non-migrant’s households. In addition, a large number of laborers in these households do not earn money and rely on remittances.
Households with migrants (transnational women) have more opportunities for sustainable livelihoods. However, they have not made use of the support that the migrant women provide. They lack effective strategies to increase their labor income as well as protect their transnational women. Men are more likely to move out the labor market.
Accordingly, the study’s policy recommendations pertain to creating job opportunities for women and stimulating labor supply on the part of men to increase household incomes. Key words: Labor supply, households, males, transnational marriage, transnational women. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com -vii- ABBREVIATIONS HCMC : Ho Chi Minh City NGO : Non Governmental Organization VND : Vietnamese Dongs USD : United State Dollars LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com -viii- LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 The difference of house areas .2 The difference of garden and paddy areas of households .3 Males’ average hours of work .4 Males’ education levels .5 The hours that men are willing to work more .6 The reasons that men are unwilling to do a second job .7 Dependency ratios of households .8 Difference of household sizes .9 People who move out of labor force in two groups. 39 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com -ix- LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 The budget line .2 An interior solution to the labor – leisure decision .3 The effect of a change in non labor income on hours of work .1 The number of economics activities of households .2 The support of married women for their relatives .3 Changes in hours of work, leisure time and incomes .4 Job titles of male relatives .5 Future plans of households .6 The support of males to their married women.
42 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com -x- LIST OF BOXES Box 3.1 Work in Nguyen Van Thanh Commune and My Hoa Commune .1 Women help their mother by transnational marriages .2 “We thank our daughters” .3 A man who has lost his farm land.4 A household that has lost one laborer .5 Future plans with Nguyen Van Thanh’s new traditional market .7 A young man who has to take care of his parents .8 The alcoholics and a temporary unemployed. 41 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com -1- CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Problem statement Transnational marriage has been a common phenomenon in the Mekong Delta for over two decades. About 300,000 Vietnamese women have married foreigners in the entire country between the years 1987 and 2010.
Among them, 35,000 women have gone to Korea and 85,000 to Taiwan or China. These numbers have continued to increase. Many towns in the Mekong Delta have “Taiwanese villages” or “Korean villages” because the thousands of foreign sons-in-laws married to local women. Vinh Long, Tay Ninh, Can Tho, and Tien Giang provinces have recorded the largest number of transnational marriages.
The Mekong Delta still has some of the poorest provinces in Vietnam. The economy of Vinh Long depends heavily on agriculture. People have fewer job opportunities in the service and industrial sectors. Laborers usually work in neighboring cities.
With low education levels, more and more women have married foreigners to escape from poverty. From 1987 to 2012, the Vinh Long Department of Justice issued more than 10,000 marriage certificates for foreign grooms and Vietnamese brides. Almost all of these young girls are poor and unskilled. Some of them get married to help their families.
Others marry to compete with neighbors who have lived abroad. A large number of women get married to the disabled men and some are treated badly. It is difficult for them to live abroad because they lack knowledge, skills and language capabilities. The transnational women’s relatives hope that migrant women can earn money abroad and send some back.
Without adequate preparation, women cannot find good jobs. However, their male relatives cannot support them before and after they get married. Their remittances lead men to increase leisure time, and not invest in education or economic activities. Based on this situation, the study aims to analyze the labor supply of transnational bride’s households in Vinh Long, a typical town with transnational marriages.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Research statement of the study This study attempts to answer these research questions: How does marriage to foreigners affect the livelihood strategies of the households of women in transnational marriages? How does the labor supply of male relatives of transnational brides change? What policies could the government adopt to stimulate labor supply on the part of the male relatives of transnational brides? 1. Study objectives This study examines the relationship between labor income and non-labor income of transnational brides’ households. Remittances constitute significant non-labor income that may have an effect on the labor supply of other household members.
This paper also explores the reasons for poverty among households of transnational brides and considers policies to increase the supply of labor from these households to increase labor income. Data and methodology 1. Original data The survey was conducted in fifteen hamlets in four districts of Vinh Long Province. The districts with most marriage migrants are Binh Minh, Binh Tan, Tam Binh and Tra On.
They are identified based on reports of the Justice Department. When transnational couples register legal marriage certificates, they come to this department first. The author chose Vung Liem, instead of Binh Minh to make sure that these areas have some differences because Binh Tan was once a small part of Binh Minh District. The survey includes 168 households of migrants and non-migrants.
First, the People’s Committees gave permission for the survey and the commune leaders supplied the household lists. The second group consisted of non-migrant households in the same villages selected randomly. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Secondary data The People’s Committee contributed some reports such as Vinh Long’s socio – economic development strategy (2011 – 2020), human resource development planning (2010 – 2020) and other figures.
The Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs provided annual reports of the 1965 national program for skills training for rural laborers. The Women’s Union provided reports of “The Advancement of Women” program and information on programs supporting women. Additional information was obtained from non-government organizations and scholars. Methodology This study uses qualitative research methods to analyze the labor supply of men in households with and without transnational brides.
With the theory of labor – leisure choice, this study proves that men and households of transnational women are reducing their hours of work. Also, men are unwilling to work more. The study uses t-tests to compare means of important household indicators such as land area, hours of work and education levels of men. The t-tests assume two samples of unequal variances.
In this test, the null hypothesis H0 is µ1 = µ2 in which µ1 and µ2 are the means. The alternative hypothesis Ha is µ1 µ2, which would mean that the two means are significantly different from each other. This study not only gives a formal framework but also adds some descriptive information that reveals some special cases of households to support the main arguments in the text. The structure of the study The study consists of five chapters.
Chapter 1 describes the research problem. Chapter 2 reviews the relevant literature in order to provide an analytical framework for studying the relationship between remittances and labor supply. The next Chapter describes the research methods and relevant details of the survey. Chapter 4 presents the results of the survey, and the final chapter concludes, gives some policy recommendations and discusses the limitations of the paper.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com -4- CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Relevant concepts The household is a group of people living together in shared accommodation and with common domestic expenses. Households usually but not always contain people who are related or cohabitating. Whereas the individual is the recipient of income, the household is the unit through which consumption expenditure is decided.
Hours of work are the number of hours per day or per week that a worker is contracted to perform labor. This may be decided by negotiation, individually or through trade unions, or limited by law. Work in excess of these hours is overtime. Workers who do not have employment for at least forty hours per week are considered part time or irregular employees.
Most casual labor jobs do not guarantee full employment.