Housing for Female Factory Workers: The Association between Renting Accommodation and Satisfaction with Income and Living Conditions

Abstract

BackgroundVietnam has experienced a strong wave of migrants to urban and industrialized areas. This is a challenge for both local and national governments, which need to address the problems of the poor and socially marginalized, including providing housing for rural-to-urban migrants. Poor housing and the economic burden of house renting are increasingly recognized as determinants of both physical and mental health.ObjectivesThis paper examined the association between renting accommodation and income satisfaction and living conditions of female workers in light manufacturing industries in Vietnam.MethodsA cross-sectional study was implemented with quantitative survey of 2,818 female workers in 10 light manufacturing factories in 3 industrial zones by a self-administered questionnaire.ResultsOver 38% of female workers had to rent accommodation. The average expense for accommodation, water and electricity accounted for 30.1% of renters' income, which is 7.2% (CI 95%, 5.3–9.3%) higher than for non-renters. A higher proportion of renters than non-renters considered their income was unstable and insufficient for living costs. In addition, only 7.2% of renters reported that their living conditions were suitable, notably lower than non-renters (22.4%).ConclusionThe study showed the economic burden of renting accommodation on workers' income satisfaction and living conditions. The findings have implications for an adequate housing access strategy for workers including the integration of housing development in the planning and development of industrial zones and factories.

Migrant Workers and Psychological Health: A Systematic Review

“…A cross-sectional study was implemented by Nguyen's survey of 2818 female workers in 10 light manufacturing factories; only a few female workers (2.8%) said their income can meet family needs, while 14.4% of women said their salary is not enough to cover their day-to-day expenses. More than 28% of workers who had to rent accommodation claimed that their income was not even enough to cover this expenditure (18.5%) [101].…”

Health Inequality between Migrant and Non-Migrant Workers in an Industrial Zone of Vietnam

“…A report from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in 2015 revealed that in Vietnam, more than 2.3 million people worked in industrial zones, and 70% of them were migrant workers with a predominance of females and youth [23]. However, Quynh et al found that most of them rented accommodation with very poor quality and sanitation standards [24]. The extant literature on the relationship between health and internal labor migration in Vietnam has primarily examined a number of prevalent health risks, such as HIV/AIDS vulnerability and transmission [25,26,27], reproductive tract infection among female migrants [28,29], excessive alcohol consumption among male street laborers [30], sexual practices and sexually transmissible infections among migrant sex workers [31,32], or malaria incidence in the at-risk migrant population [33].…”

The Double Burden of Work and Life and Turnover Intention Among Migrant Garment Workers: A Case Study From an Industrial Zone in Vietnam

“…This gender preference is also reflected in the study's low proportion of male migrant workers in the garment industry, where less than one in every four participants is male. In Vietnam, this gender imbalance is prevalent in the garment and light manufacturing industries, such as shoemaking, seafood processing, and electrical device manufacturing (General Statistics Office of Vietnam, 2017; Nguyen et al, 2016). Among immigrant nursing assistants in the United States, a similar relationship between gender and turnover intention has been reported (Sloane et al, 2010).…”

“…These results showed that numerous factors other than income level affect migrant workers' satisfaction with their income. Compared to those who did not have to pay rent, female workers in Vietnam's industrial zones, for instance, had a higher percentage of income dissatisfaction (Nguyen et al, 2016). A recent study of workers in Vietnam's industrial zones found that migrant counterparts had higher monthly incomes and comparable housing conditions to non-migrant workers (Do et al, 2021).…”