Instability in the Cross-Border Labor Market: A Study on the High Job Turnover of Migrant Workers from Rural Vietnam to Rural China

Abstract

Tens of thousands of Vietnamese workers have entered the agriculture, forestry, foreign trade, and manufacturing industries in rural Chongzuo of the Guangxi autonomous region. However, over 70% of these cross-border Vietnamese workers resign at least once a month. This study applies a survival analysis on the registration data of cross-border Vietnamese workers in 2019 to investigate the main drives of high job turnover. A Kaplan–Meier plot shows that the 30-day valid period of work permits is an important source of the frequent resignation of Vietnamese workers. A Cox regression analysis presents that Vietnamese laborers working in manufacturing, working in the sugarcane industry, or from the seven Vietnam provinces closest to Chongzuo have lower risks of turnover. This study implies that Chongzuo should bring in more manufacturing enterprises, expand work permit valid periods, and offer migrant workers vocational training.