'The hardest part of salary reform is not having money, now we have it'
Báo Thanh niên•27/05/2024
According to Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung, salary reform has been prepared for more than 20 years. The most difficult thing about salary reform is not having money, but this time there is money as the Government reported that 680,000 billion VND has been saved.
Explaining at the end of the discussion session on the revised Law on Social Insurance (SI) on the afternoon of May 27, Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said that our country's SI is still very young compared to the world, only 29 years old, and in some countries it is several hundred years old.
Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung explains at the end of the discussion session on May 27.
GIA HAN
Most workers choose to withdraw all social insurance at once.
Regarding the concerns of delegates about receiving social insurance at one time, according to Mr. Dung, "this is the most sensitive content in the law, a complicated issue". However, this content has a solid political basis from Resolution 28 of the Central Committee, discussed through two National Assembly sessions. "The biggest goal of receiving social insurance at one time is to both achieve the goal of ensuring long-term social security for the country. Ensuring that retired elderly people have a salary, but also paying attention to the current life of workers who want to withdraw social insurance. Each person has different circumstances, for this or that reason they withdraw, then pay again", the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs stated. Why does the bill have to design a one-time social insurance withdrawal item even though it is not in the laws of other countries, especially developed countries? According to Minister Dung, it comes from the needs of workers. Resolution 93/2015/QH13 was created to solve the situation, but at present it cannot be abandoned due to social consequences. According to Minister Dung, the Government proposed two options for withdrawing social insurance at one time, consulting international organizations and holding research seminars to discuss solutions. On May 22, the Government met to listen to opinions and still finalized these two options. "After consideration, experts assessed that if the two options were combined, it would only add up disadvantages instead of advantages. Therefore, the Government proposed to the National Assembly Standing Committee and the National Assembly to allow the choice of one of the two options to be submitted," said Mr. Dung. The Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs also cited that the drafting agency had widely consulted workers. Reports from the five localities with the highest withdrawal rates in the Southeast showed that the majority of opinions chose option 1, very few people chose option 2.
Sickness and maternity fund revenue is not enough to cover expenses
Noting the opinion of increasing the benefit level for the sickness and maternity policy, the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said that this is a short-term fund, not a long-term one, with the highest sharing of all funds. "But in reality, the past few years have been negative, and revenue is not enough to cover expenses. The expenditure/revenue ratio in 2017 was negative 2.13%. In 2019, it was negative 2.85%, and revenue and expenditure will only be balanced in 2023. Although this is a legitimate aspiration, increasing the policy will not ensure immediate revenue. If it is increased further at this time, it is not appropriate, because it is not balanced," said Minister Dao Ngoc Dung, and said that it is necessary to harmonize policies and benefits with the fund's ability to balance expenditure and revenue. Regarding the subjects participating in compulsory social insurance, Resolution 43 strives to achieve 60% coverage by 2030, so expanding social insurance is inevitable. All developed countries require paying taxes and paying compulsory social insurance. According to Minister Dung, those subjects that are clear and qualified should be regulated in the law. However, the current labor market is very flexible, a person has many different relationships, "during the day working for this boss, at night working for another boss, if put into a rigid law it cannot be handled". Therefore, it is proposed to delegate the authority to the National Assembly Standing Committee to decide for more flexibility.
President To Lam, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and Minister Dao Ngoc Dung at the meeting.
GIA HAN
Regarding salary reform, the leader of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said that it has been prepared for more than 20 years. "The most difficult thing about salary reform is not having money, but this time there is money. The Government reported that it has set aside 680,000 billion VND to spend on salary increases," Mr. Dung said. However, salary reform is still a new and complicated issue. The core of salary reform is paying salaries according to job positions, which must be determined based on 3 elements: stability, long-term and regularity. In response to concerns from many delegates about the "reference level", according to the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the nature of the "reference level" is a new concept that replaces the basic salary, because Resolution 27 clearly states the abolition of the basic salary. Accordingly, the reference level is calculated based on CPI and in practice. "If Resolution 27 is still in place and not abolished immediately, the current base salary of 1.8 million will continue to be used. No matter how much Resolution 27 increases in the future, it will still be the base salary and the reference level. The application of the reference level will be longer term, in case the base salary is abolished," said Mr. Dung.
The Government has proposed two options for one-time withdrawal of social insurance: Option 1 allows only those who participated in social insurance before the effective date of the law (expected July 1, 2025) to withdraw social insurance one time. Those who participate after this date are not allowed to withdraw anymore. The conditions for this subject to withdraw are 12 months of not being subject to compulsory social insurance, not participating in voluntary social insurance and having paid social insurance for less than 20 years and having a request to receive social insurance one time. Option 2 is that employees can withdraw social insurance one time but not more than 50% of the total time contributed to the pension and death fund. The remaining social insurance payment period is reserved for employees to continue participating and enjoying social insurance regimes.
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