Kinh nghiệm giải quyết việc làm đối với đồng bào dân tộc thiểu số tái định cư do xây dựng thủy điện ở một số quốc gia khu vực Đông Nam Á

 Starting in 1993 when the Lao PDR 
Government allowed foreign investors to participate in the energy sector, the number of 
hydroelectric plants increased by more than 41 times. In just 7 years, from 2010 to 2017, share of 
agriculture in total employment (%) decreased sharply from 71.4% to 31.3%, partly caused by 
hydropower development and construction which is a reason of agricultural resources shortage. 
The results are shown in table 3. This created negative consequences for the environment, climate 
change and socio-economic safety and sustainability [11]. 
Table 3. Employment Lao PDR Profile 
Subject Indicator 
Year 
2010 2017 
Employment 
Employment-to-population ratio (%) 77.7 36.9 
Share of agriculture in total employment (%) 71.4 31.3 
Share of industry in total employment (%) 8.3 14.1 
Share of services in total employment (%) 20.2 42.2 
Source: Author compiled from International Labour Organization 
 Table 4. GDP Lao PDR Profile 
Subject 
Year 
2010 2018 
GDP (current US$) (billions) 7.13 18.13 
GDP growth (annual %) 8.5 6.5 
Inflation, GDP deflator (annual %) 9.2 1.7 
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) 23 16 
Industry (including construction), value added (% of GDP) 30 32 
Source: Author compiled from World Bank 
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Table 4 reveals that in recent year, Lao PDR has succeeded in controlling inflation rate, GDP 
deflator to 1,7% (reducing 7.5% in the 2010-2018 period). As industrial development is given 
higher priority, the contribution of Agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector into national GPD 
reduced significantly (7%). 
The contradiction in the development orientation of Lao PDR, on the one hand, is to stabilize 
farming, life and resettlement for upland and lowland communes as opposed to focusing on 
hydropower development, forcing groups to ethnic minorities have to relocate again, changing 
their living environment and livelihoods, leading to deviations in employment policies for ethnic 
minorities who are resettled due to hydropower construction in Lao PDR. With more than 80% of 
the population live in rural areas, living mainly on agricultural development, hydropower plants 
occupied agricultural land, ethnic minorities rely mainly on raising their small herds, increasing 
poverty rates. 
With ineffective vocational training and career change support, almost no change in 
occupational structure, labor rate in agriculture remains high above 70% [12]. Credit support, 
infrastructure failed to meet initial targets due to inadequate resources and experience, partly due 
to the focus to accelerate hydropower development; in many places, ethnic minorities who are 
not fully supported have returned to their previous residence or continue shifting cultivation. 
3.3. Thailand’s experience 
Thailand is a country with a thriving economy in Southeast Asia, the region's second largest 
economy with an employment rate of 67.28%, unemployment rate of 0.77%, and average monthly 
income of 14943.73 baht [13] thanks to the successful restructure from a purely agricultural country 
to a new industrial and service country (tourism and service sectors in Thailand are promoted). 
Therefore, Thailand’s labor allocation in agriculture, industry, and services in 2010-2019 period did 
not witness substantial changes. The results are shown in table 5-6. With a population of about 69 
million, Thailand is the 20th most populous country in the world with 75% being Thai, 14% are 
Chinese, 5% are Muslims and 1% are other ethnic groups [14]. 
Table 5. Employment Thailand Profile 
Subject Indicator 
Year 
2012 2018 
Employment 
Employment-to-population ratio (%) 72.5 67.3 
Share of agriculture in total employment (%) 42.1 32.1 
Share of industry in total employment (%) 19.8 22.8 
Share of services in total employment (%) 38.0 45.1 
Source: Author compiled from International Labour Organization 
Table 6. GDP Thailand Profile 
Subject 
Year 
2010 2018 
GDP (current US$) (billions) 341.11 504.99 
GDP growth (annual %) 7.5 4.1 
Inflation, GDP deflator (annual %) 4.1 1.4 
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) 11 8 
Industry (including construction), value added (% of GDP) 40 35 
Source: Author compiled from World Bank 
Starting from a underdeveloped country with an average income of 179,556 
baht/household/year and the income of farming households is 105,802 baht/household/year [15] 
with little added value of goods compared with the input investment, the value of agricultural 
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products is low and unstable, low level of cultivation and technical expertise, family planning 
issues and large population,... and many other economic issues. The economic and social 
situation have prompted the Government of Thailand to introduce special solutions to change the 
situation and restructure the industry to bring Thailand to develop as it is today. The solutions are 
divided into 3 main phases (1) Restructuring stage - Patiwatn: Restoring destroyed natural 
environment, increasing the participation of ethnic minorities and mobilizing participation of 
sectors and industries; (2) Period of reform - Apiwatn: Building organizations to enhance trade, 
develop tourism with orientation to industry restructure, trade promotion, access to external 
commodity markets, product branding to enhance the value of products, to improve new 
technologies and to develop risk management channels; (3) Period of moral reform - 
Thammapiwatn: Using high technology in production, encouraging young workers to return 
home by scholarship funds, applying the "reed" policy to take advantage of maximizing 
development resources. 
As for hydropower construction, Thailand is the less favorable and the second most affected 
country in the region. Because Thailand located in the tributary and the lower basin of the river, 
Thailand had to sacrifice a lot of agricultural land as well as access to livelihoods from agriculture 
and fisheries to hydropower construction. With increasing hydropower development of upstream 
countries to export energy to Lao PDR and China, many hydropower plants in Thailand lose 
electricity production capacity; some hydroelectricity has turned into lakes, dams to regulate water 
for other hydroelectricity or to serve as agricultural irrigation. 
Despite the unfavorable environmental conditions, reasonable policy making in each period 
ensured high employment rate and restructure of ethnic minorities due to Thailand's hydropower 
construction. The support for vocational training and job restructuring were applied widely, 
ethnic minorities can develop not only agriculture but also develop high-tech agriculture to bring 
higher values. Ethnic minorities have been trained and instructed to take advantage of cultural 
and life factors to develop tourism and service industries. 
3.4. Myanmar’s experience 
Myanmar is the largest country in Southeast Asia with a population of about 51 million people 
and an area of about 676,578 km² [16]. It is also the country with the most complex ethnic 
composition in the region with 8 main ethnic groups and more than 87 small ethnic groups [17] 
with GDP growth annual rate 6.2% and tended to level off, GDP deflator to 1,3% (reducing 7.5% 
in the 2010-2018 period). The results are shown in table 7. 
Table 7. GPD Myanmar Profile 
Subject 
Year 
2010 2018 
GDP (current US$) (billions) 49.54 71.21 
GDP growth (annual %) 9.6 6.2 
Inflation, GDP deflator (annual %) 7.0 8.3 
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) 37 25 
Industry (including construction), value added (% of GDP) 26 32 
Source: Author compiled from World Bank 
Deeply affected by British colonial rule, ethnic issues in Myanmar in the previous period were 
deeply divided, conflicts occurred between ethnic groups as well as within the groups. By the 
time the Myanmar Government came to power, the democratic process was intensified, the 
reforms were divided into four main stages: (1) Political reform, all ethnic groups were 
developed equally and neutralizing previous aggressions, enhance exchanges between groups; (2) 
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Economic and social reforms to improve the quality of life of all ethnic groups; (3) Public 
administration reform with the aim of cleaning the apparatus, combating corruption, considering 
using the private economic development as a driving force for reform (4) Reforming 
mechanisms, building a framework of law, investment support to promote economic 
development orientation. 
Hydroelectric plants in Myanmar contribute 55% of the country's electricity output [18] but 
according to the Myanmar electricity development plan in 2018, nearly 60% of rural households 
could not access to electricity. This leaves Myanmar in a state of severe energy shortage. With a 
clear policy line, the Myanmar Government has put stabilization and development as their top 
priority, so many hydropower projects in Myanmar have been "suspended" indefinitely. 
On the other hand, due to the long ethnic separation period, Myanmar's infrastructure is also 
considered to be the worst in the region, so the infrastructure support of job creation policies in 
Myanmar is not developed. In addition, Myanmar's labor skills and labor attitude are not highly 
appreciated, the labor force is mainly an immigrant labor from surrounding countries. Creating 
jobs for ethnic minorities resettled by hydroelectric construction in Myanmar is still a big 
problem revolving around the developmental axis of the country. 
4. Conclusion 
Through studies and assessments on the experience of some Southeast Asian countries, it can 
be seen that this area has a great potential for hydroelectricity. Hydropower energy not only 
serves the needs of domestic economic development but also helps bring about great economic 
benefits thanks to energy exports. However, this is also a region with unique national identities, 
which makes each country has its own strategies for development and management of ethnic 
issues in general and employment issues for the ethnic minorities relocated due to hydropower 
construction in particular. There are two common characteristics of these countries in job creation 
for ethnic minorities who are resettled due to hydropower construction: 
(1) Lack of balance in policies for ethnic minorities, in other words, policies for ethnic 
minorities are always dominated, inferior to other policies. Only in Myanmar, after a long time of 
ethnic division, would this benefit be on par; 
(2) Lack of long-term vision for policies, employment policies are promulgated without the 
support of other component policies such as credit support, land support, infrastructure development, 
vocational training assistance and job transition. Thailand alone is a quite successful country when it 
has applied nearly all of the component supports to solve employment problems and develop regional 
economy. 
Based on the experiences from some Southeast Asian countries, the author proposes a number 
of solutions to complete employment resettlement policies for ethnic minorities due to 
hydropower construction in Vietnam as follows: 
(1) It is necessary to have separate policy groups depending on the actual situation, the 
ethnicity of the resettlement area to resolve cultural and social conflicts, including: cultural life, 
customs of resettled ethnic minority people. 
(2) It is necessary to have a clearly oriented strategy in vocational training, career change and 
avoid stereotypical applications from a province to others (promote internal development of the 
ethnic minorities in the area to develop traditional occupations) along with communication 
support, branding support to enhance the value of products made by the people. 
The issue of resettlement and sustainable resettlement is difficult to solve harmoniously in 
regions and countries, especially countries with a large cross-border between ethnic groups. How 
to solve well the issues of livelihood, people and job creation in resettlement areas will be the key 
to create a stable and sustainable development situation in the resettlement areas. 
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