In recent years, rural Lao society has witnessed a fast transition away from traditional land-based livelihood. This tendency is shaped by a collusion between neoliberal Lao state and capital, which actively dispossess population from land and other means of production. A new social norm that attaches livelihood off-land with connotations like modernity and individualistic independency is also enhancing the trend. While much analytical attentions have been drawn to the disruptive processes and implications embedded in the rapid diminishing of subsistence/semi-subsistence agricultural economy in rural Laos, experiences in navigating various forms of off-land livelihood remain less discussed. This article is therefore devoted to examining rural migrant workers experience as wage-labor in low-skilled sectors in Lao cities, one popular off-land livelihood pursued by rural population in the country today, especially among the younger generation.