New salaries and employee expectations

It is necessary to stabilize prices of essential goods to avoid prices following wages.

Salary is always a hot issue.

Accordingly, the first group to receive a salary increase is cadres, civil servants, public employees and workers working in the enterprise sector, expected to receive an increase of about 30% (including basic salary and allowances). From 2025, this salary will continue to be adjusted to increase by an average of about 7% per year; the second group, retirees and social insurance beneficiaries (basically, the way to calculate pensions when reforming salaries will not change but only affect the pension level due to the change in the average monthly salary for social insurance contributions. The Government will have a document specifying or guiding how to determine the pension level in the near future); the regional minimum wage of workers working in the enterprise sector will also be adjusted to increase by 6%, corresponding to the following regions: Region 1 increases to 23,800 VND; Region 2 is 21,200 VND; Region 3 is 18,600 VND; Zone 4 is 16,600 VND.

Wage increases are highly anticipated by workers, as the current wage does not really help them cover their living expenses. Therefore, workers expect the new improved wage to compensate for inflation and meet their minimum living standards.

Hearing the news of an upcoming salary increase, Ms. Thien An (a worker at Vina Bata Co., Ltd., Son Tay, Hanoi) expressed her excitement. Ms. An said that compared to the current minimum living standards, many workers are having to “tighten their belts” to make ends meet. And to ensure monthly living expenses, workers have to work overtime a lot, leaving no time to take care of themselves and their families. Therefore, the upcoming salary increase is very meaningful in sharing and reducing the spending burden of workers.

As a teacher at a kindergarten in Ha Dong district (Hanoi), Ms. Tran Nhat Le shared: “With my husband’s civil servant salary and my kindergarten teacher salary, my family is currently having to be extremely frugal to take care of 4 people, including 2 school-age children. According to calculations, I will receive an additional 1.5 million VND/month if the new salary is applied from July 1. This is a very significant income for my family at the present time.”

Discussing this issue, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong - former Director of the Institute of Labor and Social Sciences (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs) said that in fact, this is a salary reform project that many people expect. "However, there are still many points that need to be discussed to be specified in the implementation process such as calculating the salary scale, paying wages according to work, or implementing the autonomy of salary payment to the head of the agency or unit, calculating pensions... These are things that need to be done urgently" - Ms. Huong commented.

In response to people's expectations for a salary increase from July 1, at the Conference to review the results of the implementation of tasks in May 2024 and deploy tasks in June 2024 of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra directed the Wage Department to urgently complete the draft Submission and Report to the Politburo on the contents of salary reform, pension adjustment, social insurance benefits, preferential benefits for people with meritorious services and social benefits in the spirit of Resolution No. 27-NQ/TW, term XII. At the same time, focus on completing the draft Decree and documents guiding the contents of salary reform. After receiving comments from the Politburo, consulting and preparing content for press conferences on salary policy reform and organizing conferences to contribute opinions to draft Decrees and Circulars guiding the implementation of the new salary regime to ensure sufficient legal basis for implementing salary policy from July 1, 2024.

Efforts to stabilize prices while wages rise

Following closely the information of this salary reform, Mr. Pham Minh Huan - former Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs commented: Salary reform is a "hot" issue that receives much attention from public opinion. According to Mr. Huan, the public sector is an area with many shortcomings, the salary payment mechanism has not been innovated. The Central Government has emphasized that in order to change, it is necessary to rearrange the apparatus, streamline the payroll, evaluate civil servants, increase resources, increase the budget... to reform salaries for workers and civil servants. In addition, it is necessary to carefully calculate pension reform, to ensure that everyone benefits from this salary increase, and no one is left behind. The psychology of retirees always wants a high increase to reduce difficulties in life. But the increase level needs to be calculated based on many factors and in accordance with the actual situation. Even for the group of people with low pensions, the state needs to have additional support to improve the lives of retirees. "The salary increase can be said to meet the people's expectations, but it is necessary to control the cost of living well," Mr. Huan emphasized.

Concerned about the fact that prices have increased while salaries have not increased, Ms. Tran Nhat Le (Ha Dong, Hanoi) expressed: “My salary is expected to increase by about 1.5 million VND/month, and my husband and I will increase by about 2.4 million VND/month. This is a relatively large increase and is very necessary for my family. However, if prices increase, this increase will no longer be meaningful.”

"With a harmonious adjustment between economic growth and inflation prevention, and a perfect combination of monetary and fiscal policies, we can completely adjust prices. Vietnam has the advantage of being a country with essential price packages such as essential food. We absolutely do not have a large proportion of goods that have to import raw materials. In particular, it is necessary to take into account forecasts and have stable and long-term contracts to control price increases in this production item" - the Deputy Prime Minister explained to the National Assembly.

Economist, Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Trong Thinh:

Do not let the situation of "commodity prices fall according to wages"

The salary increase after the reform is of great significance. However, if the salary increase is followed by an increase in prices, it will not solve any problems and will have no meaning. The State needs to have solutions to control prices, avoiding the situation of "prices of goods falling according to salaries". It is necessary to distinguish which goods increase in price before and after the salary increase, and pay special attention to strict management. The Price Management Department (Ministry of Finance) and the General Department of Market Management (Ministry of Industry and Trade) must coordinate with localities, wards, communes, districts and counties that directly manage goods to people in their areas, and need to do a good job of monitoring prices. It is necessary to effectively decentralize management. Accordingly, the market management and price management forces need to monitor and supervise the input production prices of large enterprises. As for products related to people's livelihood and essentials, local authorities at all levels must manage them. Eliminate intermediaries and reduce product costs so that consumers benefit.

According to daidoanket.vn

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/luong-moi-va-ky-vong-cua-nguoi-lao-dong-post385776.html