Employment of Ethnic Minorities Migrating from the Northern Mountains to the Central Highlands, Vietnam: A Case Study of Pleiku, Gia Lai Province

Abstract

The Central Highlands includes five provinces: Lam Dong, Dak Nong, Dak Lak, Gia Lai, and Kontum. The Central Highlands is rich in resources, and fertile land is convenient for agricultural cultivation, especially industrial crops. With that great potential, after 1975, the State organized migration. It redistributed the population and owners throughout the region to the Central Highlands to establish agricultural and forestry farms, especially in the "new economic" regions. In addition to organized migration, the State's plan includes the "free migration" phenomenon of ethnic minorities from the northern mountainous provinces to the Central Highlands provinces. Unlike the original residents regarding soil, climate, and farming methods, the Central Highlands is a promising land that can bring a better life than their native homeland; they come to reclaim, establish villages, cultivate, and organize life on the new land. This paper presents the employment problem of ethnic minorities in the North who migrated to the Central Highlands, Vietnam, through a study in Pleiku City, Gia Lai Province.