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 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 318 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 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 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 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 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 City” 1.2 Research objectives 1.2.1 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 1.2.2 Specific objective (1) Assessment of the status quo of vocational training and employment of rural laborers (off-farm laborers and non-farm laborers) in Can Tho City; (2) Determination and assessment of factors affecting the employment needs of rural laborers (off-farm laborers and non-farm laborers) in Can Tho City; (3) Suggestion the solutions to meet the employment needs for rural laborers 1.3 Scope of research 1.3.1 Contents of research (1) Description the research status quo of domestic and foreign for employment needs as a theoretical basis (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, % of total rural laborers having suitable age in Can Tho City Chapter 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, 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 not regularly access recruitment information, 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 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 ( = no selfemployment; = 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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Approach The approach of the dissertation is to inherit the research of the model on research framework in Chapter 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 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 3.2 Research Framework With the implementation of this research framework (Figure 3.1), the dissertation focuses on how the internal factors of the rural laborers affect their employment needs, at the same time, the analysis of external factors affecting the job seeking to meet the needs of rural laborers in Can Tho city Group of basic biological variables - Age - Sex - Health status Group of capability - Academic level - Professional level - Work experience Group of livelihoods - Number of dependent people - Profit (accumulated) - Unemployment INTERNAL FACTORS EMPLOYMENT Group of the socio-economic condition change - Economic restructuring - Labor restructuring - Education investment Group of business - Recruitment business - Salary paid to laborers - The efficiency of vocational training programs Group of local policies - Vocational training - Employment - Loan - Employment information Group of Working conditions - Workplace - Productive land - Labor safety NEEDS EXTERNAL FACTORS Figure 3.1: Research theoretical framework of the topic Source: Summarized and recommended by the author 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 onfarm, off-farm, and non-farm fields); (iii) Gathering solutions to meet the employment needs of rural laborers in the coming time 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 = * 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 onfarm laborers, 110 are off-farm laborers, 210 are non-farm laborers 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 nonfarm 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: = Disagree Strongly; = Disagree Moderately; = Disagree Slightly; = Agree; = 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 k k j j Pi P (Y = 1) ) = Ln [ ] α + ∑ βi X i + ∑ γj Dj + ui Ln ( − Pi P (Y = 0) Based on this, the Binary Logistic Model is used, and the dependent variable is whether the laborers have or not have employment needs, the dependent variable Y now has two value, Y = 1: there is an employment need (finding / getting a new job, etc); Y = 0: there is no employment need (stable employment - not want to change) The general theoretical regression model is of the form: k k j j Pi P (Y = 1) ) = Ln [ ] α + ∑ βi X i + ∑ γj Dj + ui Ln ( − Pi P (Y = 0) Where: Ln ( Pi 1−Pi ) is the log odds ratio, this ratio is a linear function of the explanatory variables X and Dj For P (Y = 1) = P0: Probability in case the laborers have employment needs (in terms of the employment needs in on-farm, off-farm, and non-farm fields); P (Y = 0) = 1-P0: Probability in case the laborers not have employment needs (in terms of the employment needs in on-farm, off-farm, and non-farm fields); k k j j P0 ) = α0 + ∑ βi X i + ∑ γj Dj + ui Ln ( − P0 Next, Cross-Tabulation is analyzed to identify and analyze the factors affecting the employment needs of rural laborers according to each subject According to Wagner A Kamakura and Michel Wedel (1997), this analysis is used to test whether the two factors have any relationship in general, which is the type of independent test Chi-square test (χ2- Chi-square) is suitable when the two researched factors are discrete qualitative variable or discrete quantitative variable 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 H0 is refuted, which means the variables are interrelated On the contrary, the variables are not interrelated Chapter 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 offfarm job, agricultural leisure time, and landlessness, the laborers have to find another job to increase their income As for non-farm labor, the service sector in the non-farm areas is mainly developed by the well-off households (trading in fertilizers, retailing at home) or the service sectors related to agriculture – fishery Besides, there is a not-so-small number of individuals working as housewives and a small number working as non-farm laborers (official, service, retailing) The non-farm laborers want to change their job to have a better income than it of the previous job 4.3 The status quo of the employment needs of rural laborers With the need of improving personal income and the influences of the urbanization on their incomes, the laborers had to take the initiative, seek for additional jobs or switch from their current job to another one to ensure the life of themselves and their family For on-farm laborers and laborers who need to improve their income on their own land, it was necessary to use more technical skills such as plant breeding (fruit trees, rice) and livestock (cows and pigs), aquacultural techniques (crayfish, fish), agricultural product preservation (fruits and vegetables) after harvest, techniques for growing safe vegetables, and fruit trees protection The works of on-farm laborers directly involved with agricultural production, accounting for 40.1% These were the main laborers in the family They mostly raised livestock and produced rice as they made use of their experiences and applied production techniques obtained through the training courses organized by the local authorities to generate income from products on their land In addition, since most on-farm laborers only had primary or secondary educational level, they still had the needs of working in agricultural production The reasons for the employment needs amongst on-farm laborers were due to low current income (12.4%), the desire of changing their life (12.0%), the need to diversify income sources for the family (10.3%), the hope to live and work near their home (14,1%) Off-farm laborers had pretty high employment need (89.1%) as most of them had little or did not have production land, were old, had low academic levels, and were used to manual jobs However, some of these laborers had the need to change to work as off-farm laborers for enterprises and large-scale agricultural production facilities with large areas, less tough working conditions, without professional requirements and giving them more benefits (health insurance, bonus, appropriate rest time,…) The main reasons for the employment needs of the off-farm laborers were to make use of spare time (12.1%), due to the current hardships in family life (12.4%), and the need to diversify income sources for the family (25.3%) Most of the off-farm laborers were manual laborers working seasonally As most rural off-farm laborers were old (with 34.5% aging from 51-60), they still had the need to work as off-farm laborers in agricultural production In addition, because young laborers mostly worked for enterprises or in industrial parks, off-farm laborers were able to received higher income and remained employed throughout the season, especially during the production and harvesting periods when there was a high demand for off-farm laborers (for rice harvesting, pesticide spraying, tillage, fertilizing, water-pumping, etc.) The average income of the off-farm laborer group was approximately over million dongs/month but mostly in the main production season The income was lower when the production season was over As for non-farm laborers, the need to find and change to new jobs accounted for 87.1% At present and in the near future, the process of industrialization and urbanization continues to develop strongly, together with the inevitably of labor restructuring from agriculture to non-agricultural sectors (industry, construction, trading, and service) As a result, the current demand for vocational training is nonagriculture oriented and the employment need will be higher including jobs in trading - service (small business, cell phone repair, makeup, hairdressing, household sewing, cooking, restaurant staff, etc.); jobs in industry sector (car repair, motorcycle repair, welding, lathing, agricultural and industrial machine repair, electronics, civil electricity, refrigeration, industrial electrical repairs, automobile driving, etc.); jobs in cottage industry and handicrafts (weaving from hyacinth, plastic, making conical leaf hat, mat weaving, high-grade handicrafts); jobs in construction and other jobs (carpentry, art carpentry, interior decoration, informatics, marketing and sales) The primary reasons for the employment needs of non-farm laborers were low current income (14.8%), the need to find a more stable job (13.9%), due to the current hardships in family life (11.9%), and the need to diversify income sources for the family (13.7%) The reasons for no need of jobs amongst on-farm laborers were that they already had good jobs with stable salary (15.8%), investment capital (13.7%), and experiences (12.4%) In terms of off-farm laborers, it was because they already had good jobs with stable salary (25.4%) and due to high professional requirements (18.2%) As for nonfarm laborers, the reasons was their preference for the current job (13.5%), due to their family’s available traditional work (25.3%), and because their family had land for productions (17.5%) The survey also showed that the laborers had a need for work and soon got jobs after the establishment of cooperation between the vocational training and job referral centers of the districts and the training businesses to train laborers according to the demand for labor recruitment For the remaining occupational groups such as industry (construction, mechanics, refrigeration mechanics, industrial electronics, civil electricity, etc.), laborers personally sought for the job on their own, so they had low and unstable opportunity of finding a job The cottage industry and handicrafts (hyacinth weaving, plastic bag weaving, beadwork, mat weaving, rattan chair weaving, etc.) existed because most female labors often made use of their free time to generate more income for their family Procedure of employment change: laborers in rural areas now have many factors (the process of forming new urban areas, gradually transforming agricultural land into land with special use, industrial land and land for trade and services) directly affecting laborers (most of the agricultural land is shrinking, the transformation of labor force structure from agriculture to industry - construction, commerce and services), which leads to an increase in the laborers’ needs for job change and laborers' willingness to change and adapt to the needs of life and local changes For on-farm laborers, agricultural production in rural areas is often seasonal and depends on natural conditions As a result, the employment change of on-farm laborers was mainly changing job to suit the capacity and skills of themselves (12.6%), investment in agricultural production (80.3%); for the employment change of off-farm laborers, they mainly selected occupations with higher income (choice of occupations with higher income %); for the employment change of non-farm laborers, they mainly look for new occupations (18.1%), and occupations with higher income (34.3%) 10 4.3 Analysis of factors affecting the employment needs of rural laborers (EFA) The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) technique was used to analyze the factors affecting the employment needs of rural laborers, from the assessment of the local economic conditions and policies affecting employment of rural laborers, with research subjects: on-farm laborer, off-farm laborer, and non-farm laborer The used scale was as follows: 1= Strongly disagree; 2= Disagree; 3= Slightly agree; 4= Agree; 5= Strongly agree The variables involved in factor analysis included: X1 = Age X2 = Sex X3 = Health status X4 = Academic level X5 = Professional level X6 = Working experience X7 = Number of dependents X8 = Profit X9 = Unemployment X10 = Structural change in economy X11 = Structural change in labor force X12 = Investment in education X13 = Laborer recruitment X14 = Salary paid to laborers X15 = Effectiveness of vocational training programs X16 = Vocational training X17 = Employment X18 = Loans X19 = Employment information X20 = Place of work X21 = Land for production X22 = Labor safety An analysis of internal and external factors affecting the employment needs of on-farm laborers was conducted to clarify the opinions of the laborers themselves on meeting the requirements of employment in the future, including internal and external groups of factors (with 22 independent variables): - Group of basic biological group, including 03 determined factors (age, sex, health status); - Group of capability, including 03 determined factors (academic level, professional level, working experience); - Group of livelihoods, including 03 determined factors (number of dependents, profit, unemployment); - Group of Changes in socio-economic conditions and policies, including 07 factors (structural changes in economy, structural changes in labor force, investment in education, vocational training, employment, loans and employment information); - Group of enterprises and working conditions, including 06 factors (enterprise recruiting laborers, salary paid to laborers, effectiveness of vocational training programs, place of work, land for production and labor safety) For on-farm laborers - The majority of the working age was concentrated in the age group of 31-40, accounting for 24.7%, this was the age group deciding more boldly in the development of the household economy 11 - There were no differences between men and women in agricultural production and directly working on their land; - The on-farm laborers were healthy (95% or more), a few were old, sick and could not work, to handle manual work - Educational and professional level: Most of the on-farm laborers’ education levels were primary and secondary, so the work of on-farm laborers was mostly on their lands, and they did not have needs to improve their level - With the experience of working in rural areas, on-farm laborers (over 10 years of experience, accounting for 65.2%) were mainly people in rural areas with land resources, because they could still generate income, they have sticked to the agricultural production - The dependents were mainly people who have not yet reached the working age and the weak elders, accounting for a low proportion in the family of laborers This was one of the burdens for the main laborer in the household - The source of income was the motivation for the laborers to seek employment (with the needs for jobs) to earn more, and the laborers would continue to invest more in agricultural production (according to the survey results, the average income of laborers in the researched area was 1-3 million VND/month) - Most of the on-farm laborers were having a job and planned to change (30.5%), so they also had the need to work during their free time - The structural change in economy and labor force affecting the change in employment of on-farm laborers was mainly the change in occupation in accordance with individual capacity and skills (12.6%), and investment in agricultural production (80.3%) - Policies on investment in education, vocational training, employment, and loans created conditions for on-farm laborers to find jobs more easily, increase their incomes and improve their lives In summary, the above-mentioned internal and external factors affected the employment and income of on-farm laborers in rural areas, most of whom worked in agriculture on their own land, near their houses, or in the hamlet, which was the condition for laborers to use their land resources and experience effectively, contributing to improving the efficiency of agricultural production and increasing income for laborers However, one of the burdens for the main laborer of the household was the high number of dependents (mainly: housewife, student, children, unemployment, people lost their labor and laborers under 15 and over 60 years old), it was a difficulty manage daily activities of households For off-farm laborers - The majority of the working age was concentrated in the age group of 41-50 years (65%), according to the survey, because recently rural areas have been under the influence of urbanization, the majority of laborers shifted to non-farm employment to have high income and be able to work throughout the year, while most of rural offfarm laborers worked seasonally and were old laborers 12 - The proportion of off-farm laborers with low academic level was high, and they had no needs for training to improve their qualifications and few lands for agricultural production Therefore, they had needs to work in accordance with their experiences in agricultural production for earning for their living - The major income of off-farm laborers was mainly from manual and seasonal work, they also worked for other income generating activities such as cultivation and animal husbandry in the small scale of their households; participating in non-farm occupations The off-farm laborers had no fixed remuneration, so their income was not stable Therefore, the income from off-farm work was as high as that from non-farm work - The off-farm laborers were always unemployed when they could not find jobs in agricultural production Because agricultural production was seasonal, so in idle time they always looked for other jobs (non-farm) to have income Most of the off-farm laborers had no land for production - The off-farm laborers had low qualifications and difficult family conditions, so their participation in vocational training policy was limited The trained occupation is mainly tractor drivers In addition, vocational training for rural laborers was ineffective, accounting for 20.7% of the total, of which the majority of the agricultural laborers claimed that they were unable to find a job after training - Based on the observation results, in terms of the nature of the work, the laborers chose different places of work, the off-farm laborers were concentrated in the area near their houses (or in the commune) to work, which minimized their expenses on daily travel and activities In summary, most of the off-farm laborers had no land for production of a few of land, so they had a lot of idle time to participate in agricultural production based on health, age, experience in agricultural production, production conditions, and so on, to have income to solve the necessary expenses in daily life For non-farm laborers - In the non-farm labor force, the age group of 31-50 years old accounted for a higher proportion (31.4%) than other age groups, as the majority of laborers were senior laborers in business facilities or companies or employed in non-farm sectors The non-farm laborers had the stable income - Non-farm female laborers were concentrated in the localities (small traders, hat maker, water hyacinth – knitting workers, hairdressers, workers, and so on), while non-farm male laborers had jobs as follows: workers, ironworkers, bricklayers, porters, traders, etc Through surveys, the majority of the young workforce was concentrated in the non-farm sector, 13 - Non-farm laborers also had low academic levels, so in the future, they would have the need to improve their qualifications to seek jobs with a stable income According to the survey, local non-farm laborers had a very low academic level (grade 1: 28%, grade 2: 33.5% and grade 3: 23%) in comparison with the needs of recruitment of enterprises having high technological applications - Main occupations of non-farm laborers were small traders, traders of agricultural materials, garment workers, and so on, adapting to the economic conditions in their localities - The number of main laborers in each household was from to persons and the number of dependents was at least to persons (mainly children in school age) As a consequence, the expenses in the family have also increased, putting more pressure on finding employment to secure the income of rural non-farm laborers - Main income is from a variety of non-farm work such as seasonal income, monthly salary, daily wage or product pay The survey results showed the variety of non-farm jobs, so the average income of non-farm laborers is 2-3 million VND/month - Due to the nature of jobs and low salary for their livelihoods, according to the survey, about 20% of the laborers thought that they were having unstable jobs and incomes; the causes for non-farm laborers were low salaries, working away from home, occupational diseases / hazardous working environments (due to the low qualifications of laborers and most of the occupations were employed work); - In the process of urbanization, the development of industrial zones and socioeconomic development orientation have had many direct effects on the laborers and solved most of the local employment There were many employment options, the income of laborers was more stable than that of off-farm laborers, laborers had conditions and opportunities for vocational training, local enterprises (inside and outside of industrial zones) had needs for recruiting laborers from 18-35 years old, mainly for general laborers, which helped them to access jobs, and contribute to reducing unemployment in the locality - Most of the non-farm laborers without experience have been re-trained by the enterprises (professional training, the combination of working and re-training) because vocational training has not met the output (recruiting facilities) and the occupations has not met the social needs The effectiveness of good vocational training programs would contribute to the reduction of the unemployment rate in rural areas and reduce the costs of enterprises The workplace was concentrated in the local area (in the district and districts adjacent to laborers' residence, accounting for 27%) Non-farm laborers work in the area near local enterprises and industrial zones in order to reduce the expenses for moving, with the expectation of more stable income In summary, there were 09 internal factors and 12 external factors affecting the needs for non-farm employment in the region; the factor of land for production did not affect non-farm laborer because the non-farm laborers had needs for employment mostly in facilities, enterprises, industrial zones and industrial parks in the locality 14 These enterprises attracted the majority of laborers, had many policies to attract laborers, working conditions, and so on, to create jobs and increase income for laborers 4.4 Assessment of factors affecting employment needs of rural laborers (Binary Logistic analysis) Dependent variable Y – Employment needs of rural laborers (with research subjects: on-farm laborers, off-farm laborers and non-farm laborers) had values: Y = 1: having employment needs (seeking/ changing to new jobs, etc.); Y =0 : having no employment needs (having stable jobs – having no willings to change jobs) Independent variables in the model included: X1 = Age (in working age) X8 = Land for production (1=having land; 0=having no land) F1 = Group of basic biological variables X2 = Sex (0=female; 1=male) X3 = Health status (0=unable to work; F2 = Group of capability 1=healthy) X4 = Employment (0=employed; 1=unemployed) F3 = Group of livelihoods X5 = Academic and professional level (0= illiterate; 1=grade 1; 2=grade 2; F = Group of socio-economic conditions 3=grade 3; 4= vocational school; and policies 5=college; 6=under-graduate; 7= postgraduate) F5 = Group of enterprises and working X6 = Number of dependents (person) conditions X7 = Profit (million VND/month) For on-farm laborers Factors affecting employment needs (statistically significant independent variables) included: X1 = Age, X4 = Unemployment, X8 = Land for production, F1 = Group of basic biological variables, F3 = Group of livelihoods, F4 = Group of socioeconomic conditions and policy and F5 = Group of enterprises and working conditions; in which, older on-farm laborers in the working age group had higher employment needs than the younger laborers The result of the employment needs of on-farm laborers showed that they wanted to have regular jobs (due to seasonal production, they have idle time) to have additional income for themselves, and on-farm laborers having land for production had higher needs for working on their land (idle time due to seasonal agricultural production) On-farm laborers always looked for crops and livestocks to optimize their production, to generate income from agricultural production, and to make efficient use of their land resources 15 For off-farm laborers Factors affecting the employment needs (statistically significant independent variables) included: X1 = Age, X4 = Unemployment, X6 = Number of dependents, F1 = Group of basic biological variables, F2 = Group of capabilities and F3 = Group of livelihoods; in which, F2 = Group of capabilities (with 03 factors: academic level, professional level, working experience): the variables of group of capabilities were negative, indicating that if the off-farm laborers’ academic and professional levels were low, they would have higher employment needs, because the off-farm jobs did not require qualifications, but only required manual laborers with good health to handle the hired work The results showed that off-farm laborers with low academic level (even illiterate) had the working age of 45-60 years, had experience in off-farm work in agricultural production, had few lands for production (even have no land for production) and did not want to change to non-farm occupations 16 Table 4.1: Results of the regression analysis of employment needs of rural laborers in Can Tho city On-farm (n=210) Off-farm (n=110) Items B Wald Sig B Wald Sig Non-farm (n=210) B Wald Sig X1= Age 0,173 7,856 0,000 0,534 9,155 0,001 -1,089 5.450 0,020 X2= Sex 0,018 0,016 0,739 -0,645 0,357 0,525 -0,637 1,385 0,239 X3= Health status 0,237 0,867 0,350 1,476 1,264 0,207 0,509 0,738 0,390 X4= Unemployment 0,903 4,556 0,033 2,848 5,577 0,018 2,126 4,078 0,042 -0,029 0,254 0,394 -0,619 0,157 0,711 2,78 6,435 0,011 X6= Number of dependents 0,431 1,879 0,182 2,371 6,679 0,007 0,966 8,332 0,004 X7= Profit 0,003 0,04 0,842 0,007 0,308 0,642 0,002 1,448 0,229 X8= Land for production 3,402 8,376 0,000 -0,801 1,663 0,216 -1,722 2,523 0,112 F1= Group of basic biological variables 2,526 7,527 0,000 2,348 2,726 0,068 -0,43 0,069 0,792 F2= Group of capability 0,118 0,568 0,451 -1,467 3,568 0,059 2,157 3,121 0,081 F3= Group of livelihoods 1,804 7,169 0,000 3,097 3,328 0,068 -1,196 2.905 0,084 F4= Group of socio-economic and political conditions 2,953 3,984 0,042 -2,219 0,061 0,805 0,229 5.363 0,024 F5= Group of enterprises and working conditions 3,283 9,588 0,000 -1,879 0,516 0,473 -0,225 0,161 0,506 2,951 2,07 0,150 X5= Academic and professional level Constant -6,196 8,387 0,000 -7,421 12,257 0,000 Source: Synthesized and processed from 530 observations in Can Tho city, 2015-2016 17 For non-farm laborers The factors affecting the job demand (the statistically significant independent variables) included: X1= Age, X5 = Academic and professional level, X4 = Unemployment, X6 = Number of dependents, F2= Group of capability, F3= Group of livelihoods and F4= Group of socio-economic and political conditions; in which, there were 02 negative values: - X1= Age: the Age variable had negative value, indicating the age of non-farm laborers without employment needs, reflecting that the older the laborers were, the lower the chance of finding a job they had The result showed that the employment needs of non-farm laborers were mostly amongst younger laborers because of higher incomes; the older they were, the more difficulties they had to face due to health problems, which made it hard to secure their jobs However, some other jobs (housewife, babysitter) also indirectly helped the non-farm laborers in the family to reduce the cost in hard times - F3= Group of livelihoods (including 03 factors: number of dependents, profit, unemployment): the variables in the group of livelihoods showed negative values, indicating that even if the non-farm laborers had few dependents (or no dependent), low profit, or were not unemployed, they still had employment needs to ensure their life, as most non-farm laborers did not have their own land for production In conclusion, through the above-analyzed results, there was an increasing trend in the employment needs of the rural laborers in rural areas as there were developments in the socio-economic conditions in rural areas such as the transfer of plant and animal breeds, agricultural sector restructuring, the formation of new urban areas, trade centers, etc Thereby, the laborers in rural areas had more opportunities to find and choose the job that suited their capability and their family conditions, generating more income Based on the regression analysis, the Chi-squared test (χ2- Chi-square) was used to test the hypothesis that there was no difference in the employment needs between the groups of on-farm laborers, off-farm laborer, and non-farm laborers in Can Tho city Table 4.2: Testing the hypothesis of the employment needs and the laborers Laborers On-farm laborers Off-farm laborer Non-farm laborers Total With employment needs Observations (%) Without employment needs Observations (%) Total 136 98 183 32,6 74 65,5 210 23,5 12 10,6 110 43,9 27 23,9 210 417 100,0 113 100,0 530 Source: Synthesized and processed from the investigation results of 530 observations in Can Tho City, 2015 - 2016 With the Chi-squared test result χ2 = 40,31 and the difference of 1%, it is indicated that there were differences in the employment needs of the rural laborers, between the on-farm laborers, off-farm laborer, and non-farm laborers in Can Tho city, 18 in other words, the hypothesis that there was no difference in the employment needs of the rural laborers was rejected For on-farm laborers: On-farm laborers had employment needs and wanted to find a regular job (as they worked on farm seasonally and had plenty of spare time), so they sought for the jobs that suit their capability and agricultural production experiences to earn more income from agricultural production based on the available resources, i.e their production land, such as cooperating with enterprises or participating in cooperative groups and co-operatives in agricultural production For off-farm laborers: the observation results showed that off-farm laborers had low academic levels (including illiterate cases), aging from 45 - 60 Some laborers were over legal working age but still able to work still participated in off-farm labor (as they had the experiences as off-farm laborers) Besides, the number of dependents in the family had a great impact on the off-farm laborers (the main labor of the family), so the off-farm laborers really need the jobs to generate more income to cover the expenditures of the family, which indicated that off-farm laborers had high employment needs For non-farm laborers: with the policies on socio-economic developments of the locality (economic restructuring, labor restructuring), the laborers in the rural areas tended to change to non-farm labor, contributing and creating conditions for nonfarm laborers to have more job opportunities (such as the transfer of plant and animal breeds, household economy using combination model; developing traditional craft villages along with establishing new craft villages, developing cottage industry and handicrafts in communes, and agricultural - aquacultural product processing, etc.) Besides, the employment needs of the non-farm laborers were primarily from young laborers who had higher opportunity to receive vocational training and to work in a highly professional environment with a higher salary 4.5 Essential solutions to solve the employment needs of rural laborers in Can Tho City Essential solutions for on-farm laborers - Promoting agricultural and rural economic restructuring; - Developing household economy; - Developing collective economy with co-operatives as the cores; - Promoting vocational training for rural laborers Essential solutions for off-farm laborers with employment needs - Off-farm laborers should participate in the vocational training courses in using machines, machinery in agricultural production - Local government should encourage farm models and labor-intensive agricultural production models - Off-farm laborers should participate in the cooperation groups, cooperatives - Performing loan support programs for laborers 19 Essential solutions for non-farm laborers - Restructuring the industry sector; - Developing medium and small enterprises; - Creating jobs for rural laborers through the policies for unemployment solutions; - Creating jobs for rural laborers through laborer export In summary, based on the proposed solutions for each of the above-mentioned laborers, the dissertation recommends leaders of the city, levels, sectors and localities concerned to focus on some important solutions to contribute to promoting agricultural economic development and solving the issues on labor and employment, supporting the socio-economic development of the locality in particular and the city in general to develop synchronously - Promoting economic restructuring (industry, agriculture, and rural areas), of which: collective economic development with cooperatives as the cores; - Promoting vocational training for laborers in rural areas, focusing on vocational training for laborers for exports; - Developing of household economy, farm models, and labor-intensive agricultural production models; - Performing solutions to attract investment, focusing on developing medium and small enterprises; - Applying job policies, creating jobs for rural laborers; - Expanding the scope of the borrowers to create jobs for them Chapter CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusions On the basis of direct interviews with 530 people in working age, using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Binary Logistic to analyze the factors influencing the employment needs of rural laborers in four districts of Can Tho city, the following conclusions can be drawn: - The situation of job creation has contributed to the improvement of unemployment through employment policies, investment in physical facilities for public vocational schools, improvement in the investment attraction mechanism However, the vocational training for rural laborers has not achieved high efficiency, not fully meeting the needs of the localities Laborers have not yet found jobs after vocational training, training facilities lack practical equipment, over-focusing on theory, inappropriate training time Therefore, in vocational training, it is necessary to conduct surveys and assessments on the training needs of each group of rural laborers in accordance with the local conditions, etc., to contribute to solving employment needs for laborers of the city after vocational training 20 - The majority of rural laborers had an employment need as they want to have an income to stabilize their life However, from the results of the regression analysis, there was a difference in the employment needs amongst the groups of rural laborers, clarifying the research hypothesis All three groups had in common these influence factors affecting the employment needs of rural laborers: age, savings, unemployment, economic restructuring, labor restructuring, policies on educational investments, policies on vocational training, policies on employment, policies on loan, and employment information In addition, for on-farm laborers, the factors of production land, health status, enterprise employment, wages paid to employees, the effectiveness of vocational training programs, workplace, and labor safety affected the employment needs of the laborers In terms of off-farm and non-farm laborers, the factors affecting the employment needs of the laborers included academic levels, professional level, work experience and the number of dependents - In the near future, the good solutions for good job creation and vocational training in order to help meet the employment needs of the rural laborers are as follows: (1) For on-farm laborers: accelerate the restructuring of agricultural and rural economy; developing household economy; developing collective economy with cooperatives as the cores; encouraging vocational training for rural laborers (2) For non-farm laborers: restructuring the industry sector; developing medium and small enterprises; creating jobs for rural laborers through employment policies; creating jobs for rural laborers through labor export (3) vocational training of using machinery in agricultural production (using tractors, seed drill, transplanters, harvesters), leaders of local authorities should encourage the development of farm models and labor-intensive agricultural production, actively participating in cooperative groups and cooperatives for agricultural production services such as transplanting, fertilizing, using pesticides, tillage, harvesting (rice, vegetables, cane, beans, …) 5.2 Recommendations - In order to have comprehensive solutions to create jobs for the city's labor force and overcome the constraints mentioned by the research, it is essential to study the labor supply-demand market for each economy, each economic region, each locality, in which, the influences of the process of international integration, the academic levels of the laborers, the demand for labor recruitment of foreign investors, the seasonal nature of employment, and the impact of the policies of the Central Government and the locality on laborers should be taken into consideration - Leaders of the city and all levels, sectors and the localities should annually survey and assess the vocational training work and job creation in order to have a foundation for allocating corresponding funds and other resources, implementing programs and projects to support the creation of jobs for rural laborers; in particular, it is necessary to focus on investing and developing vocational training institution network, generating conditions for improving the quality of vocational training, and mobilizing various social sectors to participate in vocational training 21 ... 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,... 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. .. 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