Assuring social equity and improving income from an assessment of government’s supports in a pandemic and migrant workers’ integration in Vietnam

Abstract

Income improvement is the primary expectation when deciding to migrate. However, due to the limited resources and urban facilities, informal sector work leads to an increasing income gap with local workers, migrant workers in big cities are considered the most vulnerable population. When there is no social policy, migrants are even more susceptible to the negative impacts of COVID-19. To identify necessary bases for short-term and long-term intervention to attract workers to return and quickly adapt to the urban life in the economic recovery process, the study surveyed to clarify the assessment of COVID-19 support packages from which the most beneficial are electricity and water exemption and reduction, food support, loan interest reduction, and loan for salary payment. The study also used survey results from two pandemic centers in the southern region to estimate factors and impacts on the workers’ income in terms of integration, the results show that the major significant factors are education, housing, work sector, self-employment, and social insurance. We take notices to enhance workers’ integration to help retain workers by short-term measurements from the support package’s assessments and long-term measurements from the income and integration estimates to attract workers after the pandemic.