Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs chaired the conference of Ministers of Labor and Social Welfare

(Dan Tri) - The Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam shared with his Lao counterpart many experiences in operating large-scale labor markets, comprehensive social security policies and salary reform solutions...

On December 5, the 8th Vietnam-Laos Ministerial Conference on Labor and Social Welfare took place in the ancient capital of Luang Prabang, Laos. Vietnamese Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung and Lao Minister of Labor and Social Welfare co-chaired the conference.

Action set, create social prestige

After the opening and welcoming session, the two Vietnamese and Lao Ministers of Labor entered the bilateral conference. Vietnamese Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung informed about the labor, employment and social security situation in the country. According to him, in the general difficult situation, Vietnam has steadfastly operated 5 types of markets, including the labor market. With such determination and efforts, it is commendable that Vietnam's economic growth rate has been maintained at a relatively good level, inflation has been controlled, the currency has maintained its value, and food security has been ensured when there are many fluctuations and tensions in the region and the world.

Overview of the conference of Ministers of Labor and Social Welfare (Photo: Thai Anh).

Other encouraging figures include the unemployment rate being kept at 2.3%. In fact, Vietnam is a country with a low unemployment rate. People's lives are also basically guaranteed. As of the third quarter of this year, the average income of workers reached 7.5 million VND/month. Regarding the social sector, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung said that the Party Central Committee recently issued a new resolution on social policy, marking an important shift from the mindset of social support to perfecting the social security and welfare system, so that all people can enjoy the fruits of the development process. The focus of this policy is to create sustainable jobs and livelihoods for people, ensuring that everyone enjoys social welfare with access to basic social services such as education, health care, clean water, environment, etc. The general policy also aims at a breakthrough in housing. Vietnam has a program to build 1 million low-cost houses for low-income people and workers. Another goal is to complete the elimination of temporary and dilapidated houses for the poor by 2030, moving towards eliminating poverty in poor districts. Regarding training strategy, Vietnam has rearranged the entire system of vocational training institutions. The labor structure is showing positive signs. Vietnam is employing about 100,000 foreign workers, but only in 3 groups: managers, technical workers and senior experts. Due to its large population of 100 million people, Vietnam has an advantage in human resources. Another activity that is being promoted is sending workers to work abroad. Last year, the labor sector set a record, sending 120,000 people to work abroad, and this year, the results are even better. Up to this point of the year, the industry has sent 130,000 workers abroad, focusing on high-quality markets such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (China). The proposed trend is to train high-quality workers to work abroad, opening up more potential, high-value markets such as Germany, Australia, Hungary, etc.

Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung chaired the conference (Photo: Thai Anh).

Domestically, the industry has also developed a strategy to train 50,000 semiconductor, chip, and hydrogen engineers to serve the goal of making Vietnam a world chip manufacturing center. The Vietnamese Minister of Labor also discussed the story with the Lao Prime Minister yesterday, about the orientation of building a modern, sustainable, and flexible labor market. This is the premise and decisive factor to take care of social security issues. The Minister cited that the Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted tens of millions of workers and people, Vietnam has spent 120,000 billion VND in cash to support 68 million people. Thanks to the modern management and system foundations, the disbursement of such a large amount of money is very fast, effective, and almost no negative incidents occur. Also from the effort to formalize the labor market, Vietnam has achieved a social insurance coverage rate of 38%. The Social Insurance Fund has a sustainable surplus that can be used to invest in national projects and promote growth. Vietnam strives to increase social insurance coverage to 65% by 2035 and soon move towards universal social insurance. These goals are determined to be feasible, similar to the progress of health insurance coverage to 99% of the population achieved in the past. "The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam is also urging the process of amending and perfecting the legal system in the field of labor and social affairs. It can be said that, up to this point, we have been assessed and recognized as a ministry of action, with prestige, creating positive social impacts," Minister Dao Ngoc Dung summarized.

Comprehensive reform of the salary system

Discussing the situation in Laos, the female Minister congratulated the achievements of the Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. In particular, the leadership of Minister Dao Ngoc Dung has helped raise the position of the sector. Lao Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Baykham Khattiy informed that her country is currently facing economic and financial difficulties. However, Laos can close 2023 with a positive GDP growth rate of about 4.8%. The average income per capita up to this point has reached more than 1,400 USD.

The Vietnamese Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs shared with his Lao counterpart many experiences in operating the labor market and comprehensive social security policies (Photo: Thai Anh).

In addition, Laos has also attracted a lot of foreign investment, of which Vietnam is the third largest investor in Laos. In terms of labor market size, out of a total population of 7.4 million, Laos has 2.7 million workers. The unemployment rate is more than 2%, equivalent to Vietnam's figure. The labor and social welfare sector also contributes to the overall economic development of Laos. The Minister also said that Laos is focusing on re-evaluating the legal system in this field to innovate with the goal of building and managing the labor market. Laws on vocational training and career guidance are also being urged to be built. Regarding the labor export strategy, Laos has signed with Thailand and Japan to supply human resources to these countries. In addition, the Government also tries to create stable jobs for people in the country. Comparing the social security system, the female Minister admitted that the figures achieved by Laos are much lower than those of Vietnam. Lao health insurance only covers about 12% of the population.

Lao Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Baykham Khattiy (Photo: Thai Anh).

"The rate of people participating in health insurance is so low that our Health Insurance Fund is still very weak. The fund is weak and its management is not transparent and clear. To make efforts to improve, Laos must try very hard and learn from Vietnam's experiences," said Minister Baykham Khattiy. Discussing further issues on solutions to promote cooperation and development in the fields of labor, employment and social security of both countries, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung talked about the fact that from July 1, 2024, Vietnam will comprehensively reform the salary regime and increase pensions. The Minister said that the trend of salary reform in the state-owned enterprise sector is to eliminate state intervention in the issue of salaries of enterprises. Accordingly, managers are also paid the same as employees, according to the principle that salaries reflect business performance. Adjusting pensions also leads to improvements in the treatment and social allowances for the subjects.

The two ministers signed the minutes of the 8th Vietnam - Laos Labor and Social Welfare Ministers' Conference (Photo: Thai Anh).

The Minister emphasized the principle that all social policies can only be implemented and effective when the labor market is built. The world currently has 5 popular social policy models, and the operating conditions must be based on a stable labor market. The Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs takes the three words "an" as action criteria, which are "social security", "safety", and "people's security". If there are these three words "an", there will be social security, a good environment, good people, thereby increasing investment attraction and promoting economic development. Concluding the discussion, the leaders of the two Ministries of Labor together reviewed and approved the draft minutes of the 8th Vietnam - Laos Labor and Social Welfare Ministers' Conference. The signing ceremony of the minutes took place immediately afterwards.

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