On January 6, the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs accompanied National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and Government leaders to attend a thematic voter contact conference with nearly 700 voters representing workers, civil servants and laborers in Hai Phong.
National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (middle) and delegates sitting at the presiding table to conduct the voter meeting (Photo: Nguyen Duong).
The Hai Phong National Assembly delegation noted the opinions raised by voters and made recommendations on issues such as adding more holidays in the year (specifically adding 2 more days off on National Day so that the holiday lasts continuously from September 2-5); lowering the retirement age for preschool teachers compared to the general retirement age stipulated in the 2019 Labor Code.
In addition, voters also requested the National Assembly and the Government to direct ministries and branches to clearly define the minimum living standards of workers according to actual regions to have a basis for regulating reasonable minimum wages, suitable for social development.
Voters express their opinions at the meeting (Photo: Nguyen Duong).
Harmonizing retirement age regulations to ensure workers' living standards
Assigned by National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung directly dialogued with voters who are workers and laborers, answering the issues raised.
The Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs explained that adding two days off on National Day, in addition to encouraging workers, will put pressure on employers because those are two paid days off for workers.
He emphasized that when comparing holiday and Tet holidays between countries, it is also necessary to compare the correlation with the total working time fund in the year according to the provisions of law (including total working hours and maximum overtime hours).
Comparing and evaluating the competitiveness of the labor force, it can be seen that currently, the total working time fund of Vietnam is much lower than that of other countries in the region and Asia.
The Minister cited statistics from the website OurWorldinData.org. Accordingly, the total working time fund of employees in Vietnam in 2017 was 2,170 hours/year, less than some countries in the Asian region such as Cambodia (2,456 hours/year), Myanmar (2,438 hours/year), Malaysia (2,238 hours/year), Singapore (2,238 hours/year), Thailand (2,185 hours/year), China (2,174 hours/year).
Therefore, with the proposal to add more holidays in the year, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs will have to coordinate with the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry, the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, a number of business associations and relevant ministries and branches to assess the socio-economic impact and research and advise in the process of amending and supplementing the Labor Code.
Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung answers voters' petitions (Photo: Nguyen Duong).
Regarding the proposal to lower the retirement age for preschool teachers, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung analyzed that the retirement regime, also known as the old age regime, is one of the basic regimes of the social insurance policy to ensure monthly income for workers when they reach retirement age.
According to the provisions of the law on social insurance, to receive a monthly pension, employees must simultaneously meet two conditions on age and social insurance contribution period to ensure harmony and balance between the contribution period and the benefit period, thereby ensuring the balance and long-term sustainability of the Social Insurance Fund.
"The issue of retirement age has been discussed and agreed upon by the 12th Party Central Committee. The Central Committee approved this content in Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW dated May 23, 2018. To institutionalize this policy of increasing the retirement age, the National Assembly issued the 2019 Labor Code, in which Articles 169 and 219 stipulate the retirement age and conditions for pension age," Minister Dao Ngoc Dung stated.
Basis for determining minimum living standards
Regarding the issue of determining the minimum living standard of workers by region, the head of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs explained that according to the provisions of the Labor Code, the Government only stipulates the minimum wage as the lowest floor paid to workers.
In fact, the salary of an employee is agreed upon by the employee and the employer. The salary level depends on the qualifications, job position that the employee holds, labor productivity and work performance.
Article 91 of the Labor Code stipulates that the minimum wage is adjusted based on the minimum living standards of workers and their families; based on the correlation between the minimum wage and the market wage; based on the consumer price index, economic growth rate; on the relationship between labor supply and demand; employment and unemployment; labor productivity; and the payment capacity of enterprises.
The Government decides and announces the minimum wage based on the recommendations of the National Wage Council.
Based on the provisions of the Labor Code and the assignment of the Government, the National Wage Council has developed a method to determine the minimum living standard of workers and reported to the Government.
In particular, the minimum living standard is determined to ensure that workers can pay the most basic expenses for: food; housing; education, healthcare; clothing, travel needs; cost of raising 1 child (based on the size of a Vietnamese household of 4 people, in which each worker raises 1 child)...
According to the calculation of the National Wage Council, the minimum living standard in 2022 of a worker in region I (highest region) is 4,680,000 VND/person/month, region IV (lowest) is 3,250,000 VND/person/month. The total minimum living standard of a household in region I is 9,360,000 VND/month, region IV is 6,500,000 VND/month.
National Assembly Chairman and Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang presented 200 gifts to outstanding workers and workers in difficult circumstances in Hai Phong (Photo: Nguyen Duong).
Regarding the content of voters' request to strengthen inspection and handling of enterprises violating the regime for female employees, the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs affirmed that this is still being done regularly. The inspection process has not discovered any violations that require administrative or criminal handling.
However, inspection results show that common violations in this field are that businesses have not helped or supported the construction of nurseries or kindergartens or partially supported childcare and kindergarten costs for female workers.
In the coming time, the Ministry will further urge the monitoring of the implementation of policies, laws, and regimes related to female workers and propose measures to handle violating enterprises.
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