Doctor of philosophy dissertation abstract: Assessment of factors affecting the employment needs of rural laborers in Can Tho City

Overall objective: On the basis research, assessment of factors affecting the employment needs for rural laborers offers proposals for solutions to meet the employment need to rural laborers. Thereby, it contributes to increase income in accordance with local socioeconomic conditions for rural laborers in the future.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

CAN THO UNIVERSITY

- -

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DISSERTATION ABSTRACT

Major: Agricultural Economics

Code: 9620115

PHAM DUC THUAN

ASSESSMENT OF FACTORS AFFECTING THE EMPLOYMENT NEEDS OF RURAL LABORERS

IN CAN THO CITY

Can Tho, 2018

THE PROJECT HAS COMPLETED

IN CAN THO UNIVERSITY

Instructor: Assoc Prof., Ph.D:Duong Ngoc Thanh

The dissertation is defended to University’s Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Examination Council

In: Hall … Can Tho University

At: … Hour … Date… Month….Year

Reviewer 1:

Reviewer 2:

Find more information about dissertation at:

Can Tho University Learning Resource Center

National Library of Vietnam

LIST OF PUBLISHED PROJECTS

1 Duong Ngoc Thanh and Pham Duc Thuan (2012), Determination advantages

and disadvantages - opportunities and challenges in employment and apprenticeship of laborers in Can Tho City, No 47-5+6/2012, Economic

Management Review (CEM), the Ministry of Planning and Investment, pp

3-18

2 Pham Duc Thuan and Duong Ngoc Thanh (2015), Assessment of factors

affecting the job finding ability of rural laborers in Can Tho City, Can Tho

University Journal of Science No 36c (2015), pp 97-104

3 Pham Duc Thuan and Duong Ngoc Thanh (2015), Assessment of factors

affecting the participation in vocational training of rural laborers in Can Tho City, Can Tho University Journal of Science No 40d (2015), pp 83-91

4 Duong Ngoc Thanh and Pham Duc Thuan (2016), Chapter 3: Shift in the

economic structure, labor, rural employment, Book: “Employment labor and

rural vocational training in the Mekong Delta (status quo and orientation)”, Can Tho University Publishing House, pp 36-60

5 Duong Ngoc Thanh, Pham Duc Thuan and Nguyen Cong Toan (2016), Chapter

7: Experience and orientation solutions for vocational training, job creation in the process of industrialization and urbanization, Book: “Employment labor

and rural vocational training in the Mekong Delta (status quo and orientation)”, Can Tho University Publishing House, pp 131-160

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Reasons for selecting the topic

Labor and employment are always one of the most pressing issues in the world, the concern of all humanity in general and each nation in particular For each country, job creation is the basic solution to maintaining political stability and economic development In addition, increasing population and urbanization have also led to a decline in agricultural land, large family narrow house status quo, lack of employment, which are avoidable This status quo has been a barrier to the socio-economic development of each locality and country The current status quo of labor resources in the city has not met the need for labor recruitment of enterprises The need for recruitment of skilled and highly qualified laborers is increasing There is a difference

in recruitment needs for sex between male and female laborers, between urban and rural areas

In the rural areas in particular and the laborer of the whole city in general, job creation for laborers is an urgent issue for local government and each level of the city Labor and employment pressures are increasing Employment need for rural laborers

is a current issue Actually, there are no specific researches on the employment of rural laborers in the Mekong Delta The above status quo were chosen for the research topic:

“Assessment of factors affecting the employment needs of rural laborers in Can Tho

(2) According to the theory, the dissertation gives research model for analyzing and assessment of the factors affecting the employment needs of laborers in Can Tho City

(3) The dissertation described the status quo, vocational training and employment of rural laborers (off-farm laborers and non-farm laborers) in Can Tho City;

(4) The dissertation determined the factors affecting the employment needs of laborers in Can Tho City From the results of the analysis, it is necessary to propose important solutions that will help rural laborers meet their employment needs in the future

1.3.2 Research subjects

The main research subject of this dissertation is employment needs of the laborers in rural areas and in Can Tho City The examined subjects of the dissertation (on-farm laborers, off-farm laborers and non-farm laborers) are laborers having suitable age in rural areas who are involved in working in rural areas

1.3.3 Scope, location and time

- For time: collecting background data from 2013 to 2016 and primary data from

2015 to 2016

- For location: researching location of the dissertation in rural areas of Phong Dien, Thoi Lai, Co Do and Vinh Thanh District where have features about agricultural production and rural labor source, accounting for 68, 1 % of total rural laborers having suitable age in Can Tho City

Chapter 2 OVERVIEW OF REFERENCE

2.1 The concept

2.1.1 Employment needs

Employment needs are the capabilities of the laborers themselves to adapt to the working environment in order to satisfy their desires for employment or to seek a work for the employees themselves

2.1.2 Definition of research subjects

On-Farm is rural laborers who have agricultural land and work on their land (referred to as on-farm)

Off-farm is rural laborers who work in field of agricultural production, do not directly produce agriculture on their own land, and are hired to work on other’s land Non-farm is rural laborers who work in field of non-agricultural (such as industry, construction, service, and trade), indirect production in field of agriculture (referred to

as non-farm)

2.2 Research models for employment search

Research of theories: Family Theory of Howard N Barnum (1978), Labor supply

of Orazio Attanasio (2004), Theories of farmer hysterical of Frank Ellis (1993), Theories of job creation for employees of Tuan Xuan Cau and Mai Quoc Khanh (2008), Choosing the trio - working for money, working at home and rest of Ta Duc Khanh (2009)

2.3 Experimental results

Inheriting the research: Junior Davis (2006), Diversification of employment and other beneficial activities of rural famers; Wayne Howard, Michael Swidinsky (2000), the impacts on the employment of laborers on-farm; Bamlaku A Alemu, EA Nuppenau and H Boland (2008), the access to analytical models of agricultural households in the agricultural areas in Ethiopia; Tang Minh Tri (2016); Le Nguyen Doan Khoi (2014); Truong Minh Duc (2011); Hoang Thi Hong Loc and Nguyen Quoc Nghi (2014) on the employment needs of laborers that is based on the analysis of factor affecting the employment needs of laborers

Analysis research by Ho Thi Dieu Anh (2015) indicated that the factors affecting employment search process of rural laborers in which analyzed the groups of factors and each factor affecting the employment search of rural laborers

2.4 Overall assessment for research status

The employment needs of rural laborers, in other words, the need of laborers is the subject approach of the dissertation However, the previous research only focused

on analyzing employment need and opportunities of rural laborers as well as the content

of building solutions for rural laborers

For employment: the research on vocational training and job creation for rural

laborers by the above-mentioned authors showed that educational background has influenced the job choice of laborers If laborers have a high level of education, they will have more opportunities to choose job Vocational training for laborers plays an important role in enhancing labor capacity in the period of urbanization Vocational training does not meet the actual need of employment, this will not ensure the quality

of employment It is difficult to find a job after training, to find suitable job for the ability of labor Laborers need to find out more information from employment channels

However, the rural laborers do not regularly access recruitment information, do not participate in employment counseling activities, have not yet found job by themselves due to limited skills and lack of communication skills In addition, the factors affecting the employment needs of rural laborers are actual issue and should be studied and from that, effective solutions are proposed to create jobs for rural laborers

in the development period of Can Tho city

Research Framework: The inherited research models have not thoroughly

studied for the employment needs of rural laborers and clearly delimited external factors, factors for the ability affecting the employment needs of rural laborers As a

results, collecting researches for factor group and factors affecting employment need

of rural laborers in Can Tho City and creating research framework with 07 factor groups

For factor research model: inherit the development of factor groups under (i)

of the research framework and researches for factor model that were mentioned by the previous authors, specially research model by Ho Thi Dieu Anh (2015) with 3 factor groups affecting self-employment of rural laborer in Nghe An Provinces as approach, inheritance and building analysis model for dissertation

For the model of regression research: the result of regression models was

analyzed, in which the factors affecting the vocational training and employment of rural laborer such as age, sex, education background , quantity of member in family, income, etc that are the basis of inheritance and creation to the analysis method of the dissertation Thereby, Research approach by Ho Thi Dieu Anh (2015), Binary Logistic regression analysis that used binary dependent variables to estimate the probability of events occurrence with the information of the independent variable ( 0 = no self-employment; 1 = non-farm self-employment )

Therefore, research of dissertation analyzes carefully employment need of rural labors (laborers’ desire) for each laborer, off-farm laborer and non-farm laborer This

is the additional dissertation for previous research, including the following contents:

(1) Researching the capacity, vocational training, employment of rural laborers (off-farm laborers and non-farm laborers)

(2) Researching the independent factors affecting the employment need of rural laborers (off-farm laborers and non-farm laborers)

(3) Focusing on solutions that meet the demand for rural laborers in the future

Chapter 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Approach

The approach of the dissertation is to inherit the research of the model on research framework in Chapter 2 so that the factors affecting employment needs of on-farm laborers, which are also the scientific argument to build appropriate elements for the contents in the research framework of the dissertation, become the basis for proposing solutions to meet the rural labor needs in the coming time

In order to meet the needs of the job to be sought, the laborers must have the capacity, qualifications, health, and etc When the working environment is available, the laborers shall consider the conditions, update information for career development, which helps them get higher income and safer Therefore, inheriting the research model mentioned in Chapter 2 on Literature review and combining with the research objectives set out in the dissertation, the research framework of the dissertation is

generalized on the basis of theory, argument of employment labor and gathering information to analyze the factors of the employment needs of rural laborers

Figure 3.1: Research theoretical framework of the topic

Source: Summarized and recommended by the author

1 Group of basic biological variables

1 Group of the socio-economic condition

- Salary paid to laborers

- The efficiency of vocational training programs

3 Group of local policies

The research of the dissertation analyzes the employment needs of rural laborers (the will of the laborers themselves) for each of the on-farm laborers, off-farm laborers, and non-farm laborers, which is a thesis supplementing the previous researches, including the following contents: (i) Research of the capacity, vocational training and employment of rural laborers (in on-farm, off-farm, and non-farm fields); (ii) Research

of the independent factors affecting the employment needs of rural laborers (in farm, off-farm, and non-farm fields); (iii) Gathering solutions to meet the employment needs of rural laborers in the coming time

on-3.5 Data collection methodology

- Collection of the secondary data on vocational training, employment, general policies from departments, localities, and published research documents

- The primary data is collected by random sampling, the number of observations

is determined by the formula N = 5 * m (where N is the size of minimum observation

number, m is the total number of observation variables) of JF, Anderson, RE, Tatham,

RL, Black, WC (1998) The total number of observations is 530, of which 210 are farm laborers, 110 are off-farm laborers, 210 are non-farm laborers

on-3.6 Data Analysis Methodology

3.6.1 Analysis of the employment need satisfaction of the on-farm laborers

Approach: The approach of the thesis is to apply the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) theory to measure the factors that affect the employment needs of rural laborers From the research of Ho Thi Dieu Anh (2015), self-employment of rural laborers influenced by family factors, family relationships with other households, neighbors, and resident community, which is the impact on the ability to start a business in non-farm field of rural laborers, the scale as follows: not important, important, average, very important, extremely important, is used as the basis for researching, analyzing, accessing the factors that affect the employment needs as well as the scientific basis to analyze which factor affects influence the employment needs of rural laborers and an argument to propose the solutions to meet the employment needs of on-farm labor in the coming time

Based on this, the analytical research model used Cronbach's Alpha reliable coefficient analysis using the Likert scale according to the scale theory of AH Maslow's (1932), with five levels of opinion on the satisfaction of rural laborers regarding employment needs: 1 = Disagree Strongly; 2 = Disagree Moderately; 3 = Disagree Slightly; 4 = Agree; 5 = Agree Strongly

3.6.2 Analysis of the factors affecting the employment needs of rural laborers

For the approach of the regression analysis model, to measure the factors having employment needs according to the model of Wayne Howard, Michael Swidinsky (2000), and to measure the factors affecting employment needs of the rural laborers, use the analysis models of agricultural households in the agricultural zones in Etiopia

of Bamlaku A Alemu, E-A Nuppenau and H Boland (2008), including 05 main independent variables and 15 minor independent variables; Richard J Smith and Richard W Blundell (1986) Household income factor affecting employment; Agnes

C Rola and Ian Coxhead (2003), David Stifel (2010) the analysis of the factors affecting employment of the rural laborers in agricultural and non-agricultural fields

In the research approach of Ho Thi Dieu Anh (2015), Binary Logistic regression analysis use binary dependent variables to estimate the probability of event occurrence (0= non-self-employment, 1= non-farm self-employment), 13 independent variables were found

Assumptions in the test are as follows:

H0: there is no relationship between variables (independent)

H1: there are relationships between variables (dependent)

The Chi-square test value (χ2- Chi-square) in the analysis results will provide the test significance level (P-Value) If the significance level is less than or equal to the original significance level (0.05), the test is absolutely significant In other words, the hypothesis of H0is refuted, which means the variables are interrelated On the contrary, the variables are not interrelated

Chapter 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Situation of vocational training of rural laborers

The survey data is based on the laborers attending vocational training and issued with a vocational certificate by a competent authority The result showed that 61.7%

of rural laborers were provided with vocational training, most rural on-farm laborers had low academic level, mostly primary level with very few laborers receiving intermediate and college level training However, there are some difficulties when the laborers participate in vocational training: the inability to get jobs after training, limited number of individual subjects to receive vocational training, inadequate training fields, low training quality, overly focusing on theory lesson rather than practice, and high tuition

The reasons why the vocational training for rural laborers is ineffective, accounting for 22.7%,: (1) on-farm laborers believed that the main reason was due to the vocational training's inadequate ability to meet the need of the local, inadequate training time, overly focusing on theory lesson, the difference between the theory and reality, the low level of apprehension of some individuals, the inability of the poor to attend long-term training course; (2) the off-farm laborers supposed that they are not able to get a job after vocational training; (3) the non-farm laborers believed that it was due to the lack of practical equipment, overly focusing on theory, inadequate training time, inability to get

a job after vocational training

In addition, the local authorities have not surveyed the labor needs at the locality and the ability to satisfy of the rural laborers; the vocational training of the locality is also passive (training based on the planned targets); the number and level of rural labors are not suitable (the training list has sufficient number of participants but the specific classes are not arranged according to level); there is not enough information on vocational training in the localities (information is only provided on the notice board

of the commune or ward)

4.2 Employment situation of rural laborers

According to the survey data on the employment situation, the percentage of the employed laborers in rural areas is 49.79% The majority of on-farm laborers developing farming are having a stable job Because of having a lot of experience in farming and creating income for themselves and their families, they develop their family’s traditional production and when they have free time, they change to some other jobs according to their abilities

As for the occupation of the rural laborers, the number of the off-farm laborers accounts for a low rate and the off-farm laborers developing farming are planning to change their job, seeking and waiting for a new job Due to the seasonality of the off-farm job, agricultural leisure time, and landlessness, the laborers have to find another job to increase their income