Labor supply of vietnamese brides households a case study in vinh long

With the theory of labor – leisure choice, this study proves that men and households of transnational women are reducing their hours of work.. Two thirds of 635 interviewed households of

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NGUYEN THI NHUNG

MASTER OF PUBLIC POLICY THESIS

HO CHI MINH CITY - 2013

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY FULBRIGHT ECONOMICS TEACHING PROGRAM

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NGUYEN THI NHUNG

Public Policy Major Code: 60340402

MASTER OF PUBLIC POLICY THESIS

SUPERVISOR

DR JONATHAN R PINCUS

HO CHI MINH CITY - 2013

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

To my family, friends, FETP and my supervisor Dr Jonathan R Pincus

For the foundation of love And the structure of support

TABLE OF CONTENS

CERTIFICATION i

TABLE OF CONTENS iii

ABSTRACT vi

ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

LIST OF BOXES x

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Problem statement 1

1.2 Research statement of the study 2

1.3 Study objectives 2

1.4 Data and methodology 2

1.4.1 Data 2

1.4.2 Methodology 3

1.5 The structure of the study 3

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Relevant concepts 4

2.2 Theoretical background 5

2.2.1 The hours of work decision 6

2.2.2 The hours of work changes when non-labor income changes 6

2.3 Empirical studies of labor supply 8

2.4 Conclusion 8

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHOD 9

3.1 Research method 9

3.2 The structure of the survey 9

3.3 Survey sample size and sampling method 10

3.4 Data collection instrument 11

3.5 Limitations of the survey 11

CHAPTER 4 LABOR SUPPLY OF TRANSNATIONAL WOMEN’S HOUSEHOLDS IN VINH LONG 13

4.1 Basic information 13

4.2 Transnational marriages affect the livelihood strategies of the relevant households 14 4.2.1 Property 14

4.2.2 Main income 18

4.2.3 The support of married women 19

4.2.4 Changes in hours of work, leisure activities and incomes 25

4.3 Changes in labor supply of male relatives of transnational brides 28

4.3.1 Job types, occupations and hours of work 28

4.3.2 Working motivation 31

4.4 Unemployment and dependency ratio 36

4.4.1 Dependency ratio 36

4.4.2 Unemployment 38

4.5 The support from male relatives to transnational brides 42

4.6 Conclusion 43

CHAPTER 5 RECOMMENDATION 45

5.1 Households should develop their economics activities and make use of remittances 45

5.2 Education should be available to the people to find job opportunities 45

5.3 Migrant’s households should invest and help other households 46

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION 47

6.1 Conclusion 47

6.2 Limitations of the study 47

REFERENCES 49

Vietnamese 49

English 49

APPENDIXES 50

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

ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 The difference of house areas 14

Table 4.2 The difference of garden and paddy areas of households 17

Table 4.3 Males’ average hours of work 30

Table 4.4 Males’ education levels 31

Table 4.5 The hours that men are willing to work more 34

Table 4.6 The reasons that men are unwilling to do a second job 35

Table 4.7 Dependency ratios of households 37

Table 4.8 Difference of household sizes 37

Table 4.9 People who move out of labor force in two groups 39

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 The budget line 5

Figure 2.2 An interior solution to the labor – leisure decision 6

Figure 2.3 The effect of a change in non labor income on hours of work 7

Figure 4.1 The number of economics activities of households 18

Figure 4.2 The support of married women for their relatives 19

Figure 4.3 Changes in hours of work, leisure time and incomes 25

Figure 4.4 Job titles of male relatives 28

Figure 4.5 Future plans of households 32

Figure 4.6 The support of males to their married women 42

LIST OF BOXES

Box 3.1 Work in Nguyen Van Thanh Commune and My Hoa Commune 10

Box 4.1 Women help their mother by transnational marriages 20

Box 4.2 “We thank our daughters” 21

Box 4.3 A man who has lost his farm land 23

Box 4.4 A household that has lost one laborer 23

Box 4.5 Future plans with Nguyen Van Thanh’s new traditional market 33

Box 4.6 A hard worker 39

Box 4.7 A young man who has to take care of his parents 40

Box 4.8 The alcoholics and a temporary unemployed 41

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

1.2 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?

1.3 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

1.4 Data and methodology

1.4.1 Data

1.4.1.1. 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

1.4.1.2. 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

1.4.2 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

1.5 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

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 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

Income is the amount an individual can spend in a given period while leaving his or her capital unchanged For an individual with neither assets nor debts, personal income can be defined as receipts from wages, or earned income, plus receipts from transfers, such as pensions Net income is income after payment of direct taxes This study mentions “net income”

Unearned income is personal income derived from property ownership rather than work It thus consists of rent, dividends and interest.1

An adult who is “not working” is an individual of working age (fifteen years of age) but

not in school or earning income This person can be a head of household or member and lives at the same house with their relatives or other household members Other household members give them money and food People may not work for variety of reasons, some of which are involuntary (disability) and some voluntary

1 Oxford Dictionary of Economics (2003)

Casual workers are persons who may earn daily income They can work as manual workers

in agricultural or other jobs and do not have permanent employers They may be seasonally unemployed after finishing their jobs

Transnational women (Vietnamese brides) are women who have married men resident in other countries voluntarily She and her husband have legally registered their marriage at the Department of Justice or the embassy of the husband’s home country Their marriage is

regulated by the Law of Marriage and Family in Vietnam Trafficked women or women forced to migrate, marry or work against their will, are not discussed in this study

2.2 Theoretical background

This study is based on the theory of labor supply, called the neoclassical model of labor –

leisure choice A person has limited time per day to work and rest He or she can work all

of the time or give all of his or her hours to leisure activities When working, he or she can purchase consumption goods Each hour of leisure given up allows him or her to consume more goods On the other hand, he or she chooses the level of consumption and leisure activities to maximize his or her utility

Figure 2.1 The budget line

Source: Borjas, Labor economics (2003, p 23)

2.2.1 The hours of work decision

An example will help clarify this statement The worker has a budget line EF as shown in Figure 2.1 There are many utility points on this line But he has the utility index U* that gives the highest possible level of the utility (Figure 2.2) The tangent of U* and EF is P,

at which the worker works 40 hours and rests 70 hours per week It assumes that this worker sleeps eight hours per day

With 40 hours of work, he can consume 500 thousand Vietnam dongs (VND) worth of goods weekly Point A and Y do not maximize his utility because of the limitation of the budget line

2.2.2 The hours of work changes when non-labor income changes

If this person has non labor income such as a pension, unearned income or remittances, he will change his or her hours of work

Figure 2.2 An interior solution to the labor – leisure decision

Source: Borjas, Labor economics (2005, p.33)

One important assumption is that the worker receives non labor income of 100 thousand VND per week Now, if he increases non-labor income to 200 thousand VND weekly, the new budget line is given by F1E1 When the worker’s wage rate is held constant, the slope

of the budget line originating at point E1 and point E0 are the same

With the increase in non-labor income, the worker now jumps to a higher indifference curve at point P1 The expansion of the opportunity set increases both expenditures on consumption goods and the number of leisure hours, increasing the length of the workweek

to fifty hours This is the income effect, the impact of the change in non-labor income (holding wages constant) on the number of working hours

Figure 2.3 The effect of a change in non labor income on hours of work

When considering leisure a “normal” good or an “inferior” good, this worker probably

reaches the conclusion that leisure activities are a normal good Then, when this worker is

wealthier, he will surely demand more leisure The income effect, therefore, implies that

an increase in non labor income, holding the wage rate constant, reduces hours of work

2.3 Empirical studies of labor supply

Many scholars have conducted research on transnational Vietnamese marriages It is said that Vietnam is the leading supplier of brides in Taiwan with 69 percent of total foreign brides among six Asian countries (Tsay, 2004) Taiwanese men spend on average 7,000 USD to marry Vietnamese girls whose parents only receive about 1,500 USD or less The rest of the money is for “support mothers” that work as “brokers” to help Taiwanese men

find their spouses (Wang, 2007) Two thirds of 635 interviewed households of transnational marriages claim that their women get married “to help the family” (61.6

percent) and “to make parents happy” (6.3 percent) Besides, 33.7 percent parents control their daughter’s marriage decisions More importantly, about 88 percent of respondents

have financial support from their relatives (Hong Xoan, 2009)

Kim (2007) reports the strong impact of remittances on labor supply in Jamaica Households receiving remittances have reduced the supply of labor because members move out of the labor market However, Jamaican working migrants are men who work in the United States, Canada and some developed countries while Vietnamese women are the main migrants in transnational marriages In El Salvador, households have many migrants with a large amount of remittances yearly as an important source of income When it comes to labor supply, male and female recipients tend to move out of the labor force Young females usually take care of their young children while middle aged women work

as housewives Men, on the other hand, may work more or less although they have higher education level than those of households without migrants (Pablo, 2006)

2.4 Conclusion

One common theme in research on transnational marriages is that money is one of the main motivations for marrying foreigners They want to support their families, especially when they are poor However, their relatives have not been observed as main objects of the research With labor supply in rural areas, some scholars provide general information and suggestions Laborers in the countryside do not have more job opportunities for several reasons Transnational marriages partly help the households escape from poverty But to have a sustainable income, families should have sustainable livelihoods themselves

3.2 The structure of the survey

The survey has total five sections with twenty six questions Most are multiple choice and three are open response questions

Part 1: General information of the household

This section records the name, location and kinds of household Also, the members of the household will appear with ages, marital status, education and current occupation They are above the age of fifteen because the Labor Law considers them as potential workers if they are no longer in school

Part 2: Information about household property

This section records the condition of the house, electricity network, water source, and sanitation It also records ownership and use of farm land and other property This

information gives the first view of the subject’s living standards The last question lists

leisure activities undertaken outside of working hours

Part 3: Working status of household heads

Household heads have some influence over their married daughters and can decide the working strategies of the household They partly affect the working behaviors and future plans of other members The first question records the change of occupation before and

after their daughters leave home The second records the household’s future plans in

earning money The two last questions ask about their willingness to work overtime or second jobs because working hours in rural areas are mostly part time or seasonal

Part 4: Working status of members

Household members are persons who legally reside in the same house as the household

head They may have an independent income or still share the household head’s income

The first question examines the current employment of relatives who are able to work Unemployed household members give the reasons for having quit their jobs The next two

questions record the household member’s future plans

Part 5: The support of married women

This section records the ways that married women support their families and assistance from their families when transnational women need help The third question asks interviewees about their general changes before and after their daughters got married

3.3 Survey sample size and sampling method

A sample of 168 households was selected randomly in fifteen hamlets in four districts of Vinh Long The sample includes 168 heads and 611 household members in the workforce The questionnaire was composed with the help of local officials such as commune heads, policemen and leaders of households who have migrants There is a union in each commune in charge of connecting the households who have marriage migrants They are organized under the Commune Fatherland Front (Mat tran To quoc Viet Nam)

Box 3.1 Work in Nguyen Van Thanh Commune and My Hoa Commune

Nguyen Van Thanh Commune has eighty eight households in which women married Taiwanese

and Korean men These households established a group called “The Union of migrant’s households” This Union’s leader helped me visit twenty two households near his house When I

went with him, the households trusted me and cooperated rather well because he represented the local officials here

The experience of My Hoa Commune was very different My first visit was in June, 2012 The officials worked in an old building They allowed me to write the names of women who wanted

to marry foreigners On average, there were about ten girls who took “marriage status certificates” each week This commune had so many migrants that an elderly person told me

“No girl likes marrying village men here Our sons will be single forever Do you like

my son? He is lovely.”

My Hoa Commune would have been an excellent place to conduct research Unfortunately, when

I came back in February 2013, local officials had many big end of year parties in the Lunar calendar Local justice staff told me to see the police After waiting a half day, a policeman suggested that I should return to this commune after Tet holidays They did not permit me to work in their villages alone because I am not a local person Finally, I had to skip this commune

3.4 Data collection instrument

Primary information was collected using the questionnaire Photographs of some special households were taken The author also listed some details of each household after each survey Secondary data includes annual reports of official authorities such as People’s Committees, Women’s Union, the Department of Justice, and other agencies They mainly

supply hard copies

3.5 Limitations of the survey

It was originally anticipated that they survey would include more than one hundred households in which women have voluntarily married foreigners The author planned to interview the same number of households in which women married local men The first group was difficult to approach because they live in many districts However, the households of the second group give similar responses in the survey They also have some similar characteristics The author did not have sufficient resources and time to increase the sample size This makes the number of observations of two groups unequal

Regarding job classifications, most interviewees work in the countryside and depend on agricultural activities They cannot estimate working hours precisely in the questionnaire They just say things like:

“Our working time follows the crop We can work all day in the harvest season

from early morning to night But then we do not have to work in the rice paddies

We just visit our farm land about two or three hours and then come home soon.”2

The next limitation is about income and spending figures As in previous papers, people tend to supply inaccurate information about their salaries, labor income and non-labor income This is reasonable because in rural areas, farmers do not regularly record their economic activities

2 Case A11, male head, 64 years old, Hoa Thanh Hamlet, Nguyen Van Thanh Commune, Binh Minh District

CHAPTER 4

LABOR SUPPLY OF TRANSNATIONAL WOMEN’S HOUSEHOLDS

IN VINH LONG

4.1 Basic information

Vinh Long is one of the poorest towns in the Mekong Delta Among many districts, Tra

On, Binh Tan, Vung Liem and Tam Binh have the largest rural population They have many poor households (See Appendix 2).3 Young people usually work in neighboring towns Adult men and women work in fields in villages The Department of Justice receives many cases of transnational marriage from these communes Women marrying

Taiwanese men have to register in this department and wait for interviews to get “Marriage

Certificates.” Women marrying Koreans do not have to come to this department The

Korean grooms can finish the process at the Korean embassy Some women do not know their husbands until the time they get permission to marry and have a wedding In 2011, there were 308 Taiwanese and Vietnamese couples who registered at the Department of Justice They all passed the interview round Only one case was rejected because the woman submitted the wrong documents Last year, 367 couples got marriage certificates Also, this department recorded 162 cases of Korean and Vietnamese couples.4 In 2005, 335 women married Taiwanese Nearly 94 percent of these women were marrying for the first time and six percent for the second time Not all of their husbands were marrying for the first time Among 335 grooms, 32 percent of them had divorced one or two times Regarding average age, women were twenty two years old, as compared to 37 years old for their husbands Only 9.6 percent of these women resided in urban areas Regarding occupations, a large proportion of women were housewives (78%) because they were very young Only three brides had graduated from college Other women had worked as farmers (16%), tailors (2%), and makeup stylists (2%) It could be inferred that young and unskilled women in rural areas usually married foreigners Regarding Taiwanese men, they worked as manual employees (37%), factory workers (34%), salesmen (7%), farmers (5%)

3 Vinh Long Statistical Yearbook 2012, Monthly average income per capita at current price, p 341

4 Report if Vinh Long Justice Department (2012)

and drivers (3%) A few men (5%) were technicians, managers and office staff These jobs could not provide them with a good income to support their wife’s families (See Appendix

Table 4.1 The difference of house areas

Square meter

Standard Deviation 51.866 40.9 Hypothesis mean difference 0

P(T<=t) two-tail 0.004**

t Critical two-tail 1.978 Source: Author’s calculation from the survey, significant at 1% level

The results of the T-test show that the difference in means between two groups is significant Although not all households with transnational women have large houses, a subset of this group does, and this subset raises the average area per household in Group 1 Housing is a basic need and good indicator of living standards This includes the quality of housing Many farmers dream of having a good house It may be hard because they have to save money for a long time Some sell their properties to build houses Moreover, a good house enhances their positions in the community The most popular house now has a tile roof, brick walls and patterned tile floor Richer households can build nicer houses and vice versa Between two groups, the first has sturdier and bigger houses They have solid walls made of bricks or stone, good roofs made of tiles and nicer floors Some of the households

of the second group have to live in simple houses made of bamboo, trees, and clay (See Appendix 4) Regarding their interiors, houses usually have both cheap and luxury furnishings and they may have modern devices such as computers, cameras, washing machines, air conditioners and refrigerators Information from respondents reveals that the first group has better housing conditions than the second On average, each house has more than two pieces of wooden furniture, three wardrobe cabinets, two electric fans, one color television and one amplifier DVD which cost a large amount of money This group also has one motorcycle on average and nearly two cell phones, which is more than the second group The average number of color televisions and DVD – amplifiers of the first group is

higher than it of the second group The t-test results of these furnishings between two households are significant, indicating that the mean values are significantly different It can

be inferred that the second group is poorer They (the second group) do not have some necessary goods as gas stoves, electric fans and motorcycles like the first group (See Appendix 5)

4.2.1.2. Living conditions

This section includes many living conditions that households experience daily Although electricity distribution covers 100 percent and clean water about 50 percent of communes, households have to pay high fees to access them Both groups have a high proportion of households that have electricity However, the first group has more private electricity meters The second group has to use indirect electricity or share with other households

They only use electricity for cooking and lighting at night Some of them have no electricity (13 percent) This makes it difficult to work at home

For cooking, the first group uses gas frequently (36 percent), higher than the second group

at 15 percent Most households have electric cookers They prefer dry wood to gas in cooking This source is cheap and available in rural areas

Water supply is similar Both groups use river water for cooking and washing The ratio of clean water used by two groups still is below 40 percent The first group has a higher 21 percent ratio of clean water users than the rest Using river water may lead to many health problems for households

In some cases, the availability of toilets differentiates living conditions among households Seventy-eight percent of the first group has their own toilets while the ratio for the second

is only 57 percent However, they both mostly build toilets on the river or lakes Some rich households in the first group have modern toilets and also toilets on the river at the same time Some households in the first group are not aware of environmental sanitation regardless of whether they are poor or not (See Appendix 6)

4.2.1.3. Productive assets

Productive assets are associated with the livelihood of the household Having more working assets helps laborers earn a sustainable income There is no significant different between the two groups in terms of the area controlled of paddy and gardens Generally, people can work in the agricultural, industrial or service sectors But there are limited opportunities outside of agriculture Only 14 percent of the first group and 15 percent of the second group trade food, groceries and beverages in populated areas For many rural families, paddy and gardens are main assets Regarding gardens, 30 percent of the first group does not have a garden, as compared to 27 percent of the second The rests of both groups have the same mean garden area (1.57 hectares and 1.56 hectares)

Table 4.2 The difference of garden and paddy areas of households

Source: Author’s calculation from the survey, insignificant at 5% level

Few households in the research two groups own large paddy farms In the first group, there

is a large variation in paddy area, and 52 percent of households have no paddy fields The proportion of households without paddy fields in the second group is 38 percent Many households have neither garden nor paddy fields (19 percent of the first group and 23 percent of the second group) They work as casual workers in agriculture

Owning agricultural machines is an alternative way to earn money in agriculture In the first group, a few households also have some machines They have a total of twenty six boats without engines, thirteen motorized boats, twenty water pumps, two combine harvesters, and one threshing machine They have ten cows and buffaloes, but for meat only These numbers are higher than those of the second group If these numbers are divided into 112 households, it cannot be said that the first group has invested more in productive assets In summary, the first group looks richer than the second group because they have sturdier and larger houses with more goods and better living conditions such as water, electricity and fuel Yet they haven’t invested more in paddy fields, gardens or

agricultural machines They use remittances mainly for consumption Even the gap

between property owners in the first group is larger than that in the second group Transnational marriages can help these non-migrant relatives in terms of consumption standards

4.2.2 Main income

Non-labor income includes pensions, unearned income and government support (above year-old elderly, retirees or invalids) Among them, renting of land is the largest source of unearned income However, these incomes are so low that a person cannot live on them in rural areas

80-Labor income contributes to the household’s budget In some households, the main

laborers are persons who support all members Twenty percent of the first group works in service sectors such as retailers, transport, office staff and teachers The rest often work in agriculture such as farmers (33 percent), gardeners (13 percent), causal workers (8 percent) and other jobs Garden and paddy are considered two separate activities (See Appendix 7)

Figure 4.1 The number of economics activities of households

In the first group, seventy-two percent of households have one economics activity, 24 percent have two activities and four percent have three activities In the second group 84 percent has only one economic activity When suffering from unexpected problems, these

households cannot manage easily The difference between the two groups is not statistically significant

4.2.3 The support of married women

Figure 4.2 The support of married women for their relatives

Interviewed households usually have daughters who married some years ago Only six households have more distant relationships with transnational women such as sister, grandchild, or cousin However, all 112 households have had transnational women who lived in the same house So, the connection between non-migrants and migrants is rather close Thus, these transnational citizens may help their relatives and contact them

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0%

Afford relative's training courses

Households lose a laborer and decrease…

Pay family's debt Households have to help migrants

Afford other expenses of relatives

Create a new job for relatives

Buy properties and production tools

No help to relatives Afford relative's studying

No help, but they release family's burden

Directly buy belongings at home

Pay healthcare treatment to relatives

Share member's wedding costs & urgent…

Introduce foreign mates to relatives

Build new houses Monthly expenditures

frequently They still support their families after leaving The general support from the women of the first group is greater than the help from domestic women in the second group.

4.2.3.1. Financial support

Meeting monthly expenses is one of the most important challenges facing households People in rural areas depend on agriculture heavily and often have no income during the slack season They only have income after crops are harvested As a result, households have to spend money daily while they receive income only at the end of the season They have to spend money on many daily activities such as goods, taxes, medicine and celebrations Twenty eight percent of the first group has used remittances to meet daily or monthly expenses while only four percent of the second group received money from their married women for this purpose

4.2.3.2. Building new houses

Having a sturdy and comfortable house is the dream of farmers, especially the poor Their labor incomes are not sufficient to allow them to build expensive houses Some households have to sell their paddy fields to build houses or save for a long time As discussed, the first group has better houses than the second group And 29 households in the first group built houses using migrant remittances

Some unlucky women only gave their parents money once after their wedding and then were never in a position to provide more support This is often because the foreign grooms are poor; they could help only one time as their marriage offering No married women in the second group have helped build new houses for their parents

Box 4.1 Women help their mother by transnational marriages

Mrs Doi, 51 years old, has four daughters She has a small house near a river She and her husband have worked in sweet potatoes seven hours per day for four years Nguyen Van Thanh has a large paddy field that farmers use to grow sweet potatoes They harvest them two times per year She can earn 70,000 VND per day Her two older daughters came to HCMC and joined the

“show” Mrs Doi believed the “show” is an event at which women are interviewed by their

future husbands Actuall y, these “show” girls have to do more things to be chosen Then, they

married two Korean men in Geyongsang Buk – Korea They were separated from their husbands

after two years because they did not get pregnant After two years, they gave their mother USD 1,200 that they saved overseas Now they are married to Vietnamese men again and have many children They also supply their mothers with food every month The third girl has now decided

to marry a Taiwanese man and will introduce her youngest sister They want to help their mother buy a new house to sell groceries near a high school However, this migrant has not sent money back She has to take care of her baby Also, she cannot speak Chinese language to work part time jobs

Case B4, male head, My Hoa Hamlet, Nguyen Van Thanh Commune, Binh Tan District

Source: Original data

4.2.3.3. Buying more farm land and other investment

Paddy fields and garden can provide a stable income However, only six households could buy new farm land or open shops with the help of their migrants as shown the Figure 4.2 There are several reasons to explain this result First, the transnational women do not have large incomes to send back Many women in Vinh Long have to take care of their families abroad They have no more time to work in factories They lack skills and language capabilities So they can help their parents when their husband gives them money or they save for a long time Second, most of the non-migrants are poor When they receive remittances, they spend them on basic needs When they become richer, they invest the rest

of their remittances in buying new farm land, enlarging their shop area or selling food Last, they do not have higher educational qualifications So, they do not know how to invest their remittances Day by day, they run out of money and ask their married women for more help

Box 4.2 “We thank our daughters”

Mr Hung’s family now has 25 hectares of paddy and a large corn field He built a nice house in

2008 after his second girl went to Taiwan for three years Before then, his family had to work on

a boat They bought charcoal in Ca Mau and sold vegetables This boat carried rice for other people Now he has become rich He and his relatives worked hard to develop his farm He said,

“We thank our daughters Although my daughters send money back frequently, I still work hard

to please my daughters They can take care of themselves better We worked and will work If

they have some troubles and come home to live permanently, I will let them own the new land.”

His youngest 20 year old daughter does not want to study She thinks that she is rich enough to enjoy her life

Case A30, male head, 53 years old, Tan Tien Hamlet, Tan Luoc Commune, Binh Tan District

Source: Original data

4.2.3.4. Other kinds of support

Some migrants helped their relatives in urgent cases Fourteen households received money

or medicines when they had sick household members Mrs Hoa, 66-years-old, usually spends a lot of money to go to the hospital because she has lost a kidney Her daughters pay all of her health care bills “If I have no daughters like her, I do not know who could give me money” she says5

Other households pay their debts to neighbors or banks Some travel overseas with the help of their transnational women that they could not afford before

This is the first time I had gone to Korea This country is rich and beautiful My in-laws also were friendly They love my daughters She is lucky However, I cannot stay longer because of the cold weather But my daughter has to bear it to work When I told her to come back, we should share food I do not need her money I like my daughter to live in a happy family She refuses to come back She has daughters She does not want me and my husband to live without enough for ourselves Last year, my son married and his sister

covered all fees.”6

No household in the second group said that they had received these kinds of help from their married women However, their women are not as unhappy as those of the first group Transnational women have no experience, no skills and no knowledge of their adopted culture They just hope that they will have good husband Also, they hope that they can work as manual workers to help their families Some households of the first group have these lucky married women but some became poorer or unhappier because migrants have

to face many difficult things abroad

5 Case B46, female, 66 years old, Phu Hung Hemlet, Dong Phu Commune

6 Case A37, female, 57 years old, the fifth hamlet, Tan An Luong Commune

The money that households spend to help their unlucky women to come back can be considerable They have to acquire foreign exchange, buy air plane tickets and cover living costs in expensive countries, all of which is difficult for them

Box 4.3 A man who has lost his farm land

Mr Chinh, 57 years old, lives in Thanh Cong Hamlet His family has seven members, including three children He is working in a rented field that he owned before He sold his fishing rod three years ago His home is near the river side and he cannot run a small business His daughter, Miss Ngoc, got married to a Korean man in 2006 Her Korean husband was in debt and later was killed by gangsters After that, her mother in law sold the house and moved in with her second daughter Ms Ngoc had no job, no house and no skill She wanted to come back to Vietnam And

Mr Chinh sold his land to help his daughter come back to Vietnam Now Miss Ngoc left her child at home and works in garment factory He refused to let his photograph be taken His house

is empty although Tet holiday is near He is worried because the price of vegetables is down

Case A23, male head, Thanh Cong Hamlet, Thanh Loi Commune, Binh Tan District

Source: Original data

The Figure 4.2 shows that households lost their laborers or had to support their transnational women If these women had lived in Vietnam, they would not have spent so much money and their damages would be reduced

Box 4.4 A household that has lost one laborer

Mrs Lam Xuyen is an unlucky woman She has no house to live in Each month, she pays 300,000 VND to rent a food stall Her husband is sick and he cannot work Over fifteen years, she had to renew the contract three times at higher prices Her oldest daughter married a Chinese man in June, 2008 The groom is twenty-one years older than her Before leaving, he gave her mother 700 USD to buy medicine for her father In China, she lived with her parents in law on a farm She had to work all day and they did not allow her to go out She missed her Vietnamese

relatives Now Mrs Xuyen’s daughter hopes to escape this situation and come home She can

cook and sell food with her mother So this family has lost a laborer Mrs Xuyen is very upset because other people think that she sold her daughter

Case B18, female head, 47 years old, My Hoa Hamlet, Nguyen Van Thanh Commune, Binh Tan

District

Source: Original data

4.2.3.5. The support from domestic married women

Both transnational and domestic married women want to help their families according to their financial capabilities In households’ responses of the second group, their women

helped them by providing goods and sharing some expenses during holidays/celebrations Married women may buy their parent’s clothing or food These kinds of help cost less

money Most women get married to reduce the burden on their parents

Only 11 percent of households in the first group receive no help from their married women This percentage is lower than the second group (42 percent) The most common kinds of support are sharing costs of parties or Tet holidays and buying cheap goods for their parents’ houses Some of them supply food and rice to their parents These kinds of

help that women provide are not costly Married women in the first group spend more money on the same kinds of help but with more money because their remittances are higher However, married women of the second group were more likely to introduce new jobs to their relatives than those of the first group They have information about jobs and their relatives can stay with them to find jobs Only two households bought more paddy fields or gardens in the second group because their women married rich husbands in the city However, these households only buy small amounts of farm lands or open small retail stores

In summary, the women in both groups help their relatives as much as possible It depends

on their income Women in the first group are better able to help their relatives because they have access to foreign exchange However, they may impose a burden on their non-migrant relatives when they get into trouble overseas Transnational marriages therefore present more opportunities for gain, but also more risk

4.2.4 Changes in hours of work, leisure activities and incomes

Figure 4.3 Changes in hours of work, leisure time and incomes

Basically, these elements connect together closely and negatively An increase in working hours increases labor income and reduces leisure time Conversely, a reduction in working hours reduces labor income and increases leisure time But with non labor income, this connection may change unpredictably Total income, including non labor income and labor income, can increase or reduce working hours Richer people will spend more time working if they invest in their businesses They also can have more leisure time to enjoy if they think that they have enough money This study shows that households actually reduce their hours of work and spend more time on leisure activities when non-labor income increases

4.2.4.1. Total income

In this study, non-labor income (unearned income) involves either financial support from married women or pensions that the government provides to people 80 years-old and over,

martyr’s relatives and military forces Neither group has many people receiving pensions

Figure 4.3 indicates that the first group received a large amount of remittances while the second group received little financial support from their female relatives As a result, their total incomes were significantly different

In the first group, 57 households (50 percent) increased their total income as their women got married with foreigners Next, 36 households had stable incomes and only the rest (17.8 percent) suffered a decrease in their total income There is no doubt that remittances increased the first group’s total income greatly although the relatives were not asked about

the number of remittances each year In the second group, incomes were mostly unchanged (53.6 percent) Nineteen households increased their income, which was less than the first group This ratio is relevant to the fact that they receive less remittance from their female relatives and they increase their hours of work

4.2.4.2. Labor income

Labor income is the most important income source for households Only 25 percent of households increased their labor income In fact, 58 households in the first group (52 percent) reduced their labor income, as compared to 34 percent in the second group Whether transnational women have been married for a long time or not, households still reduce their labor income But few households plan to work more So, they may depend more heavily on remittances, than working to earn a living themselves

Both groups have many households that earn lower incomes They said that they are poorer because the cost of living continues to increase while their farming businesses suffer because of the crop losses and diseases Vinh Long’s agriculture has suffered seriously

because of diseases in longan trees and animals Also, some households growing Japanese sweet potatoes cannot earn profits because the price of this commodity has fallen Agricultural input costs (seeds, labor, materials and pesticides) affect their business badly

4.2.4.3. Hours of work

Hours of work provide labor income and contribute to total income of households In other

words, the hours of work are directly proportional to workers’ labor income, particularly

men because they are the main laborers Women at home occasionally do housework, which reduces the amount of labor time sold in the labor market The decrease of hours of work comes from using machinery in crops However, only households growing rice may reduce their hours of work but increase their labor income The proportion of farmers in the two groups is small Most of them are casual workers whose salaries are based on their hours of work People in the first group work less after their transnational women have left Only 19 percent of the first group increased working hours This will be explained in the section below on working motivation Among the second group, most of the households have stable working hours Twenty one households (19 percent) worked more hours and only seven households reduced their hours of work

4.2.4.4. Leisure time

The first group enjoys leisure activities more than the second group with over fifty households (46 percent) increasing leisure time while in the second group only nine households (16 percent) did so Leisure activities include watching television programs, attending community parties and gambling Households in the first group also said that they spend more money on parties and weddings than the second group On average, households in the first group attended between thirty and forty weddings/feasts while the second group attended only twenty to twenty eight weddings or birthdays

Second, opportunities to travel differs between the two groups Households in the first group travel more than the second, particularly overseas Only when their women marry foreigners do they have the chance to go abroad Some families can travel in Vietnam when their women come back

In the second group, some people visit neighboring towns for a short time Poor households have no money to travel They only leave their hometown to go to HCMC or Can Tho to work or to go to the hospital

Regarding negative kinds of entertainment, neither group records high levels of

participation Now all hamlets register “cultural units” and the local officials prohibit cock

fighting, gambling and motorcycle races Households also avoid bad habits to keep their

“Cultural household” Certificate Both men in the two groups drink alcohol every week

But people in the second group buy more lottery tickets than those in the first It is true because the profits of the Lottery Company contribute to the Vinh Long’s state budget

approximately 30 percent annually.7The buyers hope to “change their lives” if they win

4.3 Changes in labor supply of male relatives of transnational brides

4.3.1 Job types, occupations and hours of work