Preparing to negotiate regional minimum wages: Will there be time to increase wages in early 2024?

Informing Dan Tri newspaper on the afternoon of December 14, Mr. Tong Van Lai, Deputy Director of the Department of Labor Relations and Wages (Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs) said that the National Wage Council will hold its second meeting to discuss the regional minimum wage plan for 2024 on December 20.

It is known that the technical department of the council has not yet released an assessment report or proposal on whether the regional minimum wage will remain the same or increase next year.

However, with the National Wage Council meeting taking place in the last days of this year, it is almost certain that the regional minimum wage in the first phase of 2024 will not change.

Traditionally, each salary council meeting takes place in 2-3 sessions. The plan and timing of salary increase are usually finalized in the third session, and fastest in the second session when all parties find common ground.

Chuẩn bị thương lượng lương tối thiểu vùng: Có kịp tăng lương đầu năm 2024? - 1 — After the first meeting, the National Wage Council agreed to postpone negotiations on increasing the minimum wage until the end of the year (Photo: Nguyen Son).

At its first meeting in early August, the National Wage Council agreed to postpone negotiations on a minimum wage increase until the end of this year to discuss the timing and extent of the increase. The reason was the economic downturn that caused more than half a million workers to lose their jobs, reduce working hours, and increase CPI in the first 6 months of the year by 3.29% compared to the same period last year, with inflation increasing by 4.74%.

The Vietnam General Confederation of Labor proposed an increase of about 6%, meaning the lowest corresponding salary would be 195,000 VND for region IV and 280,000 VND for region I. The Vietnam Confederation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said that finding orders and keeping jobs for workers is more urgent than increasing wages.

The regional minimum wage is the lowest level that serves as a basis for businesses to negotiate and pay wages to employees. This level applies to employees working under the contract regime of the Labor Code; working in enterprises; cooperatives, farms, households, individuals and other organizations in Vietnam that hire employees under contracts; foreign agencies, organizations, international organizations and foreign individuals in Vietnam that hire employees.

According to Decree No. 38, the monthly minimum wage is being applied from July 1, 2022 to December 30, 2023 in 4 regions: Region 1 is 4,680,000 VND/month; Region 2 is 4,160,000 VND/month; Region 3 is 3,640,000 VND/month and Region 4 is 3,250,000 VND/month.

Regarding the minimum hourly wage, region 1 is 22,500 VND/hour, region 2 is 20,000 VND/hour, region 3 is 17,500 VND/hour, region 4 is 15,600 VND/hour.

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