MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS, HO CHI MINH CITY FULBRIGHT ECONOMICS TEACHING PROGRAM

NGUYEN THU HA

WELFARE POLICY FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS
IN HO CHI MINH CITY,
A CASE STUDY IN TAN BINH DISTRICT

Public Policy Major
Code: 603114

MASTER OF PUBLIC POLICY THESIS

ADVISOR
Dr. JONATHAN R. PINCUS

HO CHI MINH CITY - 2011 CONTENTS
CERTIFICATION i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

3.3.2. Methodology 14
3.4. Data collection instruments 14
3.5. Limitations of the survey method 15
CHAPTER 4 - SURVEY RESULTS 17
4.1. Characteristics of domestic workers 18
4.1.1. Gender of DWs 18
4.1.2. Age of DWs 18
4.1.3. Education 19
4.1.4. Family status 20
4.1.5. How DWs find jobs 21
4.1.6. Years working as domestic worker 22
4.2. DWs’ current job 23
4.2.1. Domestic chores 23
4.2.2. Working hours 24
4.2.3. Length of doing the current job 26
4.2.4. Working conditions 26
4.2.5. Income and expenditure 28
4.2.6. Health and Medical Care 30
4.2.7. Days off, leisure time and entertainment activities 32
4.2.8. Relationship with employers 33
4.2.9. Social contact 35
4.3. Legal awareness of DWs 36
4.4. Dishonesty of DWs 36
4.5. Conclusion 37
CHAPTER 5 - DISCUSSION 38
5.1. Irregular working hours 38
5.2. Problems adopting labor contracts 39
5.3. It is difficult to control issues relevant to DWs 40
I certify that I wrote this thesis myself.
I certify that the study has not been submitted for any other degrees.
I certify that any help received and all sources used have been acknowledged in this thesis
with the best of my knowledge.
The study does not necessarily reflect the views of the Ho Chi Minh City Economics
University or Fulbright Economics Teaching Program.

Author
Nguyen Thu Ha
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my deep gratitude to my parents and brother who always encourage me
in my life, my studying and my career.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Jonathan R. Pincus, for the
continuous support of my study. With rich knowledge, experiences, patient, motivation and
enthusiasm, his guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis.
Besides my advisor, I am grateful to Ms. Dinh Vu Trang Ngan for thoughtful and valuable
comments on the survey and the early version of my work.
I would like to thank to all teachers, librarians, laboratory assistants in Fulbright Economics
Teaching Program, who have helped and retransmitted a lot of their knowledge and experience
to me.
I am indebted to many of my relatives, classmates and friends in class MPP3 who supported
me to conduct the survey. This thesis would not have been possible without their assistances.

Key words: Domestic workers, exploitation, abuse, vulnerability, discrimination, domestic
service companies, Women’s Union. iv
ABBREVIATIONS

DWs : Domestic workers
HCMC : Ho Chi Minh City
NIS : National Institution of Statistic
ILO : The International Labor Organization
TBD : Tan Binh District
USA : The United States of America
v
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4-1: Gender of DWs 18
Figure 4-2: Number of DWs in groups of age 19
Figure4-3: Highest certificate of education of DWs 20
Figure 4-4: Family status of domestic workers 21
Figure 4-5: Job status of domestic workers' spouses 21
1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Problem statement
The role of women in Vietnamese society is changing quickly. As women have entered the
labor force and set up businesses, demand for domestic workers (DWs) has become very large.
DWs have a big role in doing housework to ensure that the activities of the family can take
place smoothly. The domestic worker is also indispensable in household business.
Unfortunately, the growth of domestic service is accompanied by the widespread abuse of
labor, exploitation of maids, especially children. In many countries around the world,
including Vietnam, domestic work has not been regarded as a professional occupation and
there is no official legal framework to protect this workforce.
In Vietnam, especially in big cities, the shortage of DWs is a frequent topic of discussion.
Housemaids are a hot topic in the daily newspapers. Two prominent examples are the stories
of Nguyen Hao Anh in Ca Mau province and Nguyen Thi Binh in Hanoi. They were victims
of the inhumane torture over more than ten years at the hands of their employers (Huynh Hai,
Ngo Nguyen, 2010), (Huong Vu, Duy Hien, 2010). These cases shocked the public for a long
time and were a warning signal about the exploitation of domestic workers.
Currently, domestic service is not considered a formal job, and there is no specific agency
assigned to monitor and manage this group (Than Hoang, 2010). There are still no official data
on DWs, only case material about abuse and exploitation of DWs reported in the media. As
reported by the ILO in 2010 at the International Labor Conference, Manuela Tomei, Chief of
the ILO’s Conditions of Work and Employment program, Social Protection Sector said that
domestic work absorbs a significant proportion of the workforce, ranging between four to ten
percent of total employment in developing countries and up to 2.5 percent of total employment
in industrialized countries (ILO, 2010).
In Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in 2006, there were an estimated 2,162 children in domestic work

1. Why do DWs not have the same working conditions and benefits as employees in the formal
sector?

1
Labor Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, June 23, 1994 as amended April 2, 2002, National Assembly.
2
“Snowball sampling” referred at
http://www.experiment-resources.com/snowball-sampling.html
3
In order to answer this central question, some following sub –questions should be asked:
- What are the characteristics of DWs and their working conditions?
- What welfare policies are available to them?
- Are they receiving the benefits that they are entitled to?
- What are the major reasons that they do not receive equal treatment?
2. What should be done to improve the welfare of domestic workers?
1.3. The object, scope and purpose of the study
The subjects studied are listed in the table below:
Table 1-1: Subjects of the study
Objects / Job
Doing
house
work
Taking care of
children, the elderly
or the disabled
Assistant
for family

paper. There are still no official data on DWs in Vietnam, only case material about abuse
and exploitation of DWs in the media. No specific agency has responsibility for monitoring
the situation of DWs. That is the reason why many contradictory opinions about this
problem exist. Therefore, the researcher will conduct a survey to collect data. The
4
interviews and data from the survey will be used to explore the real situation of DWs in
HCMC.
1.4. Research Methods
The study is based on a survey to examine the situation of DWs in Tan Binh District,
HCMC. The thesis first will analyze practical issues about DWs in HCMC. As noted above,
this is a small survey that cannot make generalizations about all of Vietnam, but is a form of
case study.
1.5. The structure of the study
The study consists of six chapters. This section belongs to the introductory chapter. Chapter
2 consists of a literature review providing relevant concepts and the theoretical and
analytical framework about the welfare of the DWs. Research methods are described in
Chapter 3. Chapter 4 consists of the results of the survey and the qualitative analysis of the
realities of DWs in Tan Binh District, HCMC. Based on this analysis, Chapter 5 discusses
the implications of the findings. Chapter 6 focuses on discussing policy recommendations.
Chapter 7 concludes and suggests topics for future research.

5
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

medical care, social insurance, working condition
Besides these two terms, there are some relevant concepts that should be mentioned like
employer and household. An employer is a person on which the domestic worker is dependent
for staying in the household because he or she is the head of household or the responsible
person who hires and supervises the domestic worker. A household can be a single person or a
group of persons who live together, who may be related to each other, and who have common
arrangements for eating for at least three months in duration (NIS, 2004).
2.2. Theoretical background
2.2.1. Demand for domestic workers in Vietnam
With economic development, the demand for and supply of DWs increase quickly. Factors
which contribute to the increase in demand for DWs are demographic changes such as the
aging population, increasing participation of women in the labor force and the pressure of
family life in urban areas (D’Souza, 2001).
Vietnam is one of the countries which has the highest proportion of women in the labor
force (83 percent) (Tan Duc, 2011). Traditionally in Vietnam domestic chores are carried
out by women living in the household. When they expend more time in the labor force, the
time to do housework is reduced, therefore, they often employ DWs to replace them in the
kitchen or partly take care of their family.
The living standards of Vietnamese people are improving gradually and especially in urban
areas. The opportunity cost of doing house work is going up because people can get higher
incomes when working outside. Urban citizens can pay for DWs with wages that are lower
than their opportunity cost of time (Do Huyen My, 2009). Higher incomes allow them to
hire a domestic worker to do domestic chores for them.
One of main factors contributing to demand for domestic work is the aging population
(Bureau for Workers’ Activities-ILO, 2007). There are changes in family structure. Families
7
with two generations are replacing three-generation families. Young couples usually live far

2.2.3. Theoretical background
One of the most important avenues for rural people to escape from poverty is wage labor.
Access to stable waged employment is a major motivation for rural people to migrate to
cities. However, women face discrimination in the labor market owing to a pronounced
gender division of labor, in which some jobs are considered “male” and other jobs “female.”
In addition, rural women are less likely to have educational qualifications required to get
better, more stable jobs. As a result, many rural women rely on the market for DWs.
Although this is unregulated, low-paid and inferior work, it is often a better alternative than
work available in the location of origin. However, because of their lack of alternatives, and
the informal nature of labor contracting, women in domestic work are subject to abuse and
exploitation.
2.3. Empirical studies
Housemaids have existed for thousands of years. In ancient traditions, every upper class
family and some middle class families used to have slaves or nannies to do domestic chores or
take care of the elderly, children or disabled people. In the modern, market economy
households hire DWs and pay for them. Many studies worldwide have shown that DWs still
do not have the same benefits as workers in the formal sector. They may be overworked,
treated unfairly, and some cases are subject to sexual abuse or violence.
2.3.1. The number of domestic workers all over the world
There are no credible statistics on the number of DWs worldwide. In many countries, they are
not considered as workers by national law and they often work in private homes that make it
difficult to find them and know about their lives. According to the ILO, domestic work is a
significant area of employment and it is estimated that there are over 100 million DWs
globally. Many of them are women and migrants (Williams, Tortell and Callister, 2009).
Especially widespread in the Middle East, the ILO estimates there are 22 million foreign DWs,
a third of which are women. They mainly come from Asian and African countries, including
Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Ethiopia (IRIN, 2010) .
9 To sum up, the statistics above show the huge number of DWs all over the world. However,
little research has been done on their conditions of life and work, and the policy implications
of maintaining such a large and unregulated sector of employment in both developing and
industrialized countries.
2.3.2. The situation of domestic workers
A Human Rights Watch report published in April 2010 said about domestic workers in
Indonesia:
“Domestic workers faced a wide range of abuses. Many experienced poor working
conditions, such as needing permission to leave the house, a lack of leave days,
having their passports taken away and, in some cases, physical and emotional abuse”
(IRIN, 2010).
The report also noted that access to justice was limited. Simel Esim, a gender expert at the
ILO in Beirut, said this situation is because domestic labor is in the home and considered as a
private matter. They are dependent on the employer. It is a challenge to monitor their lives in
the employer’s house (IRIN, 2010).
In Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam, many DWs are children. Most of them live in their
employers’ houses. They have to work from 13 to16 hours a day, with low wages, no days off,
depending on employers. They often cannot get in touch with their families, and are cut off
contact with the outside world. If they intended to have a boyfriend or husband they are fired
(ILO, 2006). It is similar to the situation of child domestic workers in Cambodia (Cambodia
National Institute of Statistics, 2003), and Indonesia (Human Right Watch, 2009).
Mistreatment and abuse of DWs is a consequence of the lack of knowledge of these DWs
about their rights and how to protect themselves. A study of DWs in Thailand concludes:
“There are limitations in terms of scope of protection extended to DWs and the actual
implementation of such protection. In most cases, both the employers and DWs
themselves are not aware of their duties and rights under the Labor Protection Law.”
(Boontinand, 2010).
11

12
(ILO, 2010). In November 2010, after a workshop in Beirut, Lebanon, Arab trade unions
agreed on a statement of principles, including the right to decent wages and union
representation for foreign DWs. In 2009, Lebanon's Ministry of Labor approved a standard
contract for DWs that specifies a maximum 10-hour workday and a minimum of six days of
annual leave, among other provisions (IRIN, 2010). In March 2010, Syria introduced a law
requiring employment agencies to register with the government (IRIN, 2010). Jordan has
comprehensive labor legislation covering foreign DWs (IRIN, 2010).
2.4. Conclusion
This chapter has reviewed the literature relating to the demand for and supply of domestic
service. Furthermore, the chapter also pointed out empirical studies of DWs.
All studies agree that domestic service labor is an important part of the labor force in most
countries in the world. Most DWs are not protected by national law. They often work in
difficult conditions, face risks of vulnerability, discrimination and even some of them are
subject to violence or sexual abuse. Governments and trade unions around the world have
taken action to protect them but it seems to be that their equal rights is still far from achieved.
This chapter has provided the theoretical and practical framework for this study to analyze the
situation in Vietnam. Bases on this framework the study will focus on issues about the detailed
situation in Vietnam as follows:
- Characteristics of DWs;
- Working conditions of DWs;
- Welfare policies which are available for DWs;
- Efforts to improve DWs’ lives.
13

Girls under 15 years old
X
X
X
X
Boys under 15 years old
X
X
X
X
Women
X
X
x
X
Men
X
X
x
X

In addition, some employers and relevant officials have been interviewed to provide a
background about DWs and broader perspective on the issues.
14
3.3. Survey sample size and sampling methods
3.3.1. Sample size
TBD has over 75,000 households. It is administratively divided into 15 wards. With the aim
Employer questionnaire: to find out employers’ perceptions of domestic service, attitudes
and treatment of their DWs.
Questionnaire for ward officials: to discover how local officials perceive the domestic
worker issue.
3.5. Limitations of the survey method
Snowball sampling is a form of non-random sampling. The results of the survey are
dependent on the understanding and relationships of the interviewer. Thus, the results will
be affected by subjective perceptions of the researcher. It is difficult to estimate the error of
information collected so that we cannot make generalizations about all of HCMC or
Vietnam on the basis of these results. However, when other sampling methods are difficult
to use, this is the best sampling method to collect information about the real situation of
DWs.
The disadvantage of this technique is the potential for sampling bias. Specifically, the
helpers who were interviewed were mostly maids in households of officials and public
servants or office workers, who are highly educated, knowledgeable about the law and the
rights of workers and for the most part respectful of maids, treating them like members of
the family. Some maids were interviewed randomly as the researcher met them on the way
to conduct interviews. These were mostly assistants in the small restaurants whose owners
are kind people. They allow their employees contact with people from outside freely so that
the researcher could approach and interview them.
The topic of this study is a sensitive issue in society today. It relates to attitudes and
behaviors about human relationships. In general, people do not want others to think badly of
them. Therefore, people tend to conceal behaviors or attitudes that are not socially aware or
acceptable. Domestic workers are afraid to speak truthfully about their situation because
they are afraid of losing their job.
In addition, due to time limitations, in such a short time of the interview, the domestic
worker could not develop sufficient trust in the researcher to share information of a private
nature, especially sensitive problems in their relationships with their employers. Thus the