Government 'will soon have a roadmap for salary reform'

The Government will soon submit to competent authorities a roadmap for wage reform according to Resolution 27 of the Central Committee and develop a plan to adjust regional minimum wages.

The information was reported by Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai to the National Assembly on the morning of May 22, when presenting the state budget situation in 2022 and the implementation of the socio-economic development plan in the first months of 2023.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the socio-economic situation in the last months of the year continued to recover, contributing to the overall results of the whole year 2022. In a very difficult context, Vietnam still achieved the goal of stabilizing the macro economy, controlling inflation, promoting growth, and ensuring major balances of the economy. 13/15 targets were achieved and exceeded the plan, "timely and fully meeting the tasks of development investment expenditure, implementing social security policies, salary reform and other urgent tasks".

In the coming time, the Government aims to effectively implement policies for people with meritorious services, social assistance, social security, poverty reduction, and improving people's lives. The Government will closely monitor the situation of workers who have lost their jobs or had their working hours reduced to have appropriate support plans.

According to Resolution 27 of 2018 of the Central Committee, the reform of salary policy for cadres, civil servants, public employees, and armed forces was expected to be implemented in July 2021. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this policy has been repeatedly postponed. At the November 2022 session, the National Assembly requested the Government to submit to competent authorities in 2023 a roadmap for salary policy reform according to Resolution 27.

According to the 2004 Decree, civil servant and public employee salaries are calculated by multiplying the basic salary by the salary coefficient. With the current basic salary of 1.49 million VND, the highest salary of a civil servant (type A1, group 1, level 6) is 11.92 million VND/month; the lowest (type C, group 3, level 1) is 2.01 million VND/month.

From July 1, when the basic salary increases to 1.8 million VND, the highest salary for civil servants is 14.4 million VND/month; the lowest is 2.43 million VND/month. Meanwhile, the monthly regional minimum wage applied to employees at enterprises in region 1 is 4.68 million VND; region 2 is 4.16 million VND; region 3 is 3.64 million VND; region 4 is 3.25 million VND.

Continue to streamline staff, protect cadres who dare to think and dare to do

According to Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai, the Government will step up the building and improvement of institutions to improve the effectiveness of law enforcement; improve discipline and ethics in public service. Organizing the apparatus, streamlining the payroll and mechanisms to encourage and protect dynamic, creative cadres who dare to think, dare to do, dare to make breakthroughs for the common good will continue to be implemented. "Cadres who are afraid of making mistakes, afraid of responsibility, shirking responsibility, and avoiding when performing public duties will be strictly punished," said Mr. Khai.

The Government is determined to step up the fight against corruption; speed up the progress, complete the investigation, and prosecute corruption cases to bring them to trial. Problems related to projects and land in the conclusions of inspections, examinations, and judgments in some provinces and cities will also be resolved soon.

In addition, the Government will propose to the National Assembly to separate compensation, support, resettlement, and site clearance from investment projects to accelerate project implementation. Difficulties in bidding and purchasing of medicines, supplies, and medical equipment are committed to being overcome and resolved.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai presented the Government's report on the socio-economic situation on the morning of May 22. Photo: National Assembly Media

Representative of the inspection agency, Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh requested the Government to report more clearly on solutions to protect officials who dare to think and dare to do; promptly overcome the mentality of avoiding and fearing responsibility of some officials, civil servants and public employees; and overcome the situation of civil servants and public employees quitting their jobs.

According to Mr. Thanh, a series of cadres, civil servants and public employees were disciplined, prosecuted and indicted for serious violations in the process of administration and management, leading to a phenomenon where a significant number of cadres, civil servants and public employees have an attitude of avoiding responsibility. This has caused the operation of the state apparatus from the central to the grassroots level to stagnate, causing difficulties and congestion in handling administrative procedures for people and businesses.

Therefore, in addition to management and operation solutions, the Chairman of the Economic Committee proposed that the Government evaluate current legal regulations to have unified and safe solutions for cadres, party members, civil servants and public employees in performing public duties.

"Disciplinary enforcement in some agencies and localities is not strict; loopholes in mechanisms and laws are still being exploited to cause trouble for people and businesses. The phenomenon of people having to bribe in resolving work is a reality that has been going on for many years but has not been prevented in time," said Mr. Thanh.

Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh reads the Government's socio-economic report on the morning of May 22. Photo: National Assembly Media

Proposal for comprehensive assessment of labor and employment situation

The Economic Committee also said that the data on labor, employment, and income in the Government's report "contradicts the economic situation and business operations."

In the first quarter, 149,000 workers nationwide lost their jobs; the number of workers in industrial enterprises decreased by 3.5% compared to the same period last year. According to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, from September 2022 to January 2023, nearly 547,000 workers in 1,300 enterprises had their working hours reduced or stopped working due to a decrease in orders. The risk of unemployment for young workers is three times higher than that of older workers. However, the Government's report assessed that the labor and employment situation in the first quarter "has changed", with an unemployment rate of 2.25%, down from the previous quarter; the underemployment rate also decreased; and the average monthly income of workers increased.

Therefore, the Economic Committee recommends that the Government make a more comprehensive assessment of the labor and employment situation; clarify the contradictions in assessments compared to actual data and the industrial production process and business operations.

At the same time, the Economic Committee said that many businesses encountered difficulties and stopped operating after the new regulations on fire prevention and fighting standards and criteria came into effect. Businesses said that many new regulations exceeded those of developed countries, not taking into account the feasibility when applied in Vietnam, increasing the time, procedures, and costs of compliance.

"The government needs to further evaluate this issue to help businesses and still ensure fire prevention and fighting," Mr. Thanh said.

Vu Tuan - Son Ha

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