Valuable support

Mr. Nguyen Van T. (a civil servant in a state agency in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi) sat down and calculated after his name was on the list of people being laid off and had to quit his job.

Mr. T. shared that after working for a while, the amount of money he had saved was not much. However, after quitting his job, he was lucky to still have an income for 12 months from unemployment insurance benefits. This was the amount of money that helped his family stabilize their lives before thinking about finding a new job with a higher income.

“Before, when I joined the Social Insurance, I just thought I was following the rules. Like many people, I thought I would work for the government for life and not worry about unemployment, so I didn’t care much. However, when I changed jobs, I realized that this was a very valuable support in difficult times,” Mr. T. shared.

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According to current regulations, the period of unemployment benefits is calculated based on the number of months of social insurance contributions. Illustration: Thach Thao

According to the 2013 Employment Law, the period of unemployment benefits is calculated based on the number of months of social insurance contributions. For every 12 months of contributions up to 36 months, the employee will receive 3 months. After that, for every additional 12 months of contributions, the employee will receive 1 more month, but not exceeding 12 months.

The monthly unemployment benefit is equal to 60% of the average monthly salary for social insurance contributions of the 6 consecutive months before unemployment, but not exceeding 5 times the basic salary for employees subject to the salary regime prescribed by the State.

For civil servants and public employees, most have long-term participation in social insurance. Therefore, when they quit their jobs, it can help them ensure a part of their income to stabilize their family life and find a new job.

Social insurance fund balance ensures payment

Implementing the policy of streamlining the organizational apparatus in conjunction with staff reduction, according to the requirements of the Central Steering Committee and the Government Steering Committee, in the next 5 years, ministries, sectors and localities will reduce at least 20% of civil servants and public employees receiving salaries from the state budget.

Thus, after completing the merger of the apparatus, ministries, departments, branches and localities continue to restructure internally in a downward direction.

Recently, in a meeting to give opinions on the revised Law on Employment, the National Assembly Standing Committee proposed that the Government should add principled provisions to the bill to ensure the balance of the unemployment insurance fund in case there is a large increase in the number of people receiving unemployment insurance policies due to the restructuring process.

Faced with this concern, the Ministry of Home Affairs (the agency in charge of drafting the law) said that currently, the country has about 1.7 million civil servants working in public service units, including financially autonomous ones.

When implementing the restructuring and organization of the apparatus with a 5-year roadmap, each year a maximum of 4% (about 68,000) of civil servants receiving salaries from the budget can leave their jobs. This number only accounts for a small part of the total number of people receiving unemployment benefits (over 1 million people/year).

Mr. Do Ngoc Tho, Head of the Social Insurance Policy Implementation Department (Vietnam Social Insurance), said that of the total number of civil servants and public employees who quit their jobs due to organizational restructuring, the majority are eligible for early retirement policies. Therefore, the number of civil servants who quit their jobs and receive benefits and the amount of support generated each year is not much.

Only those who are not civil servants and do not meet the conditions for early retirement but are laid off are entitled to benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

The balance of the Unemployment Insurance Fund by the end of 2024 is VND 60,800 billion, an increase of VND 0.1 trillion compared to the end of 2023. This is a fund source to ensure payment for the number of unemployed people that may increase in the next few years.

Minimum wage increase 2025

Minimum wage increase 2025

The Ministry of Home Affairs will focus on adjusting regional minimum wages in the coming time, especially zoning minimum wages in accordance with changes in areas after administrative unit rearrangement.
Changing the way pensions are calculated in the State sector from 2025

Changing the way pensions are calculated in the State sector from 2025

From January 1, 2025, the calculation of public sector pensions will be based on the entire social insurance contribution period, not the final years as per current regulations.
What to do to help old workers receive higher pensions?

What to do to help old workers receive higher pensions?

From July 1, workers will have the option to participate in supplementary pension insurance so that when they reach retirement age, they will receive a higher pension.