Middle-aged laid-off workers back home or in 'constant migration'

Many middle-aged laid-off city factory workers have settled back into their hometowns, while others have migrated back to urban areas after finding it hard to make ends meet back home.

Thanh Huong, 35, from the Mekong Delta province of Long An, moved to HCMC with her husband more than 10 years ago and had been working for a factory there ever since. But then she was laid off in May this year. She decided to withdraw her 50-million-dong ($2,100) social insurance allowance and return to her hometown.

"Life is hard for a factory worker," she says. "I wanted to apply to corporate institutions, but age is my disadvantage."

So, she switched careers in another direction. The middle-aged woman has spent part of her social insurance allowance on a vocational course in spa treatment and is currently working at a spa establishment to gain experience in the field.

She is making some VND3 million at the moment, not even half of her wage when she was a factory worker. Combined with her husband’s six-million-dong monthly income, the amount is just enough for her family to get by.

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