Citation: Sen,L.T.H.; Bond, J.; Ty, P.H.; Phuong, L.T.H. The Impacts of COVID-19 on Returned Migrants’ Livelihood Vulnerability in the Central Coastal Region of Vietnam. Sustainability 2023, 15, 484. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su15010484 Academic Editors: Yilmaz Bayar and Ulas Akkucuk Received: 26 October 2022 Revised: 7 December 2022 Accepted: 15 December 2022 Published: 28 December 2022 Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article The Impacts of COVID-19 on Returned Migrants’ Livelihood Vulnerability in the Central Coastal Region of Vietnam Le Thi Hoa Sen 1, * , Jennifer Bond 2 , Pham Huu Ty 1 and Le Thi Hong Phuong 1 1 University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University, Hue 530000, Vietnam 2 Gulbali Institute for Agriculture, Water and Environment, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia * Correspondence: lthsen@hueuni.edu.vn or sen.lethihoa@huaf.edu.vn Abstract: This study investigated the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on livelihoods of house- holds with migration workers, who returned home to the central coastal region during the peak disease outbreak in Vietnam. Five hundred and twenty-nine households with returned migration workers aged eighteen and above in the coastal areas of Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, and Thừa Thiên Huế provinces participated in this study. Results showed that the livelihoods of all studied households were highly vulnerable due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with almost 90% at moderate or high risk according to the vulnerability index. All livelihood assets were negatively affected, and financial, psychological, and social assets were the most affected, with Common Vulnerability Score System scores of 3.65, 3.39, and 3.17, respectively. Male, younger workers, or those with a lower education level and fewer social networks were found to be more vulnerable than others. This study suggests that young laborers could aim to attain a higher level of education and/or practical skills to be able to obtain stable employment with benefits such as social insurance if they desire to out-migrate. Further, social programs which allow for migration workers at the destination to meet each other may have positive impacts on their vulnerability. Keywords: COVID-19; livelihood vulnerability; coastal population; migrant workers 1. Introduction Since being discovered in Hubei province, China, in December 2019, coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) has spread throughout the world and had severe impacts on human life [1], the global economy, and poverty [1–4]. The pandemic critically impacted the livelihoods of people in several respects, including socioeconomically, psychologically, and physically [5]. These impacts have not been restricted to urban populations, but have extended to rural communities [6], particularly those dependent on migrant workers [7]. Due to the contagious nature of the virus, numerous protection measures have been adopted by various administrations (country, region, state/province, or district level), with the “zero-COVID” approach (i.e., elimination strategy) undertaken by several countries (for example, Australia, Cambodia, New Zealand, Iceland, and Vietnam) [8]. Measures adopted under these elimination strategies severely restricted transportation, and production and consumption within industries, which resulted in millions of enterprises ceasing activities and millions of workers losing their livelihoods and incomes [9]. Vietnam is not the exception in this sense. Almost all joint ventures, companies, and enterprises in Vietnam’s main economic zones (such as Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang provinces in the North and Bình Dương, Long An, Tây Ninh, and Hồ Chí Minh City in the South) ceased operations during 2020 and 2021. These restrictions had serious socioeconomic implications, particularly broken contracts with international partners, thousands of workers stranded in cities, and subsequent waves of migration from urban areas to ancestral lands in rural areas. Studies show that livelihoods of rural people have been affected by the COVID- 19 pandemic in various ways. For example, in rural areas of Ethiopia and Bangladesh, Sustainability 2023, 15, 484. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010484 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability