Development Impacts of Irregular Migration: A Study from a Central Province in Vietnam

Migration is often viewed negatively in development policy terms, and much understandings of migration often portray it as a threat to social security in destination countries, however, the sustainable livelihood approach presents migration as a livelihoods strategy, suggesting that policy should, instead, support human mobility. In the current context where regular labour migration offers various consequences resulting in both positive and negative impacts, irregular labour migration, though complex because of its undocumented nature, has become the choice of many unskilled and low-skilled workers from Vietnam. This study employs a case-study qualitative approach to look at the case of irregular migrant workers from a central province of Vietnam migrating overseas for economic purposes. It applies the New Economics of Labour Migration theory and the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and brings together their shared premise of viewing migration as a household calculated strategy to sustain rural livelihoods, to explore whether irregular migration can be a sustainable livelihood strategy for the rural people of Ha Tinh province. The study finds that irregular labour migration is a household calculated strategy and, similar to regular migration, it brings about social and economic benefits that affect the migrants, their families and home communities. Although such migration is complex and vulnerable, it is well thought through by migrants and fits in the context of rural Ha Tinh as a flexible, quick and convenient strategy to gain income for the rural poor. The research also finds that the local people have established their own supporting networks and found their own ways to mitigate the risks and ensure their irregular migration is successful in terms of economic gains. The combination of an economic migration theory and a livelihood approach offers this research an in-depth discussion on the complexity of irregular labour migration and its impacts on various aspects of social and economic development.