Workers and laborers constantly face difficulties finding jobs, so they are forced to leave the city and return to their hometowns - Photo: C. TRIEU
Workers who don't own homes or possess significant assets often feel the same way about moving from one rented room to another when they leave the city for the countryside. However, some leave the city with the hope of finding new opportunities.
I don't know what I'll do tomorrow.
It had been almost 10 years since Pham Van Tin (28 years old) last attended a year-end class reunion with his high school classmates. The reason was that after graduating, Tin left his hometown in Central Vietnam and moved to Dong Nai to live. However, his salary as a garment and footwear factory worker wasn't very high, his hometown was far away, and he needed to cover many expenses, so he rarely visited home.
At the class reunion at the end of this year, Tin was the most enthusiastic of the group. He confidently declared, "From now on, I'll stay here permanently, no more going back there. If any of you need a job, please introduce me to someone."
Although factory workers' wages aren't high, they can still save a little if they're frugal. However, for the past two years, they've hardly been able to work overtime, their income has continuously decreased, while rent and food expenses have skyrocketed, putting immense pressure on Tin.
Tín also switched jobs hoping to find a better one, but things didn't improve much, and he even lost his seniority pay. Without qualifications or skills, his CV with "almost 10 years of experience as a factory worker" was useless. With no other choice, Tín decided to leave the city and return to his hometown.
It was a year-end reunion with friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time, so they were laughing and chatting happily, but deep down, they couldn't see any promising future ahead.
"If we just try to hold on, we can probably get by day to day, but if the situation continues like this in the long run, it won't be good. Even though I honestly don't know what I'll do when I get home, at least I'll have a comfortable place to live instead of renting, and I'll be closer to my parents," Tín said sadly.
I used to think that since I had a stable place to live, I could stay in the city forever, but I never expected such difficulties to arise and last so long. Jobs are hard to find, and even those I do find unsuitable, plus life is too stifling, so I had to come back.
Mr. DAO DUY NGOC (Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City)
Difficulties are also opportunities.
Celebrating the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Dragon was also the most special homecoming trip for the family of Mr. Hoang Anh Quoc (40 years old, from Thua Thien Hue ). The trip also marked the day the whole family officially left their beloved hometown of Ho Chi Minh City after 22 years of living there.
After graduating in postal and telecommunications engineering and becoming a technical employee at a large telecommunications company, Anh Quoc soon bought a house in Ho Chi Minh City. Many years ago, he and some friends pooled their capital to open a company, which started quite well. However, two years of economic hardship brought considerable difficulties to his company due to supply chain disruptions.
Many of his company's orders are difficult to fulfill. Meanwhile, inventory is piling up in the warehouse, and bad debts are skyrocketing.
But all the debts were uncollectible, some people had even run away, while every day he woke up shocked by the bank interest rates. Quoc decided to sell the house, pay off the debts, and move his whole family back to Hue to live.
He almost had to start from scratch, and it was difficult to continue working in telecommunications. Quoc chose to become a ride-hailing driver as a way to return to his hometown, but it also felt like a new land after so long away.
"There's news that Hue is about to become a centrally-governed city, so there will surely be more potential and opportunities. Difficulties forced me to leave Ho Chi Minh City, but perhaps that's an opportunity to seize the development trends in my hometown, and being close to family is still better," said Quoc.
Rent out your city house, move back to the countryside.
For Dao Duy Ngoc (30 years old, Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City), the journey from the city back to his hometown was a little easier. Ngoc had worked as a truck driver for seven years, then as a chef for four years.
But then the COVID-19 pandemic swept through, and Ngoc lost his job. In the post-COVID-19 era, he struggled with his work as a chef, but eventually officially quit in October 2023 because the salary was too low to live on.
Over the past few months, Ngoc has been working as a ride-hailing motorbike driver. He says that some days he drives for 10 hours straight, and on days with continuous bookings, his income can reach up to 3 million VND per day. But there are also days when he opens the app from morning till night and still doesn't reach the minimum target (around 450,000 VND per day).
The couple currently owns a three-story townhouse in Binh Tan District (Ho Chi Minh City), and they plan to rent it out at the end of March before moving the whole family to Vung Tau.
Ngoc explained: "Partly I'm fed up with the crowded city and the suffocating living space, but mostly because I find the work increasingly difficult, and despite my efforts, I don't see any significant achievements."
Leaving the city to work in tourism in my hometown.Source
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