Mr. Le Van Minh (Thanh Hoa) is a retired government official who shared that since unemployment insurance was established, he has contributed 1% of his salary each month as the basis for social insurance contributions.

From the time he joined until his retirement in 2023, Mr. Minh has not received any unemployment benefits.

Mr. Minh said that unemployment insurance is a risk sharing. However, retirees who have never received unemployment insurance and are not paid the amount they have paid do not ensure the principle of paying and receiving.

Recently, voters of Vinh Phuc province also proposed that the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs study and amend the Law on Employment in the direction that those who pay unemployment insurance but have not yet received unemployment benefits when they retire or terminate their labor contracts will be paid the amount they have paid into the Unemployment Insurance Fund according to the insurance principle of "contributing and receiving".

Buddhist Sangha (14).jpg
Voters in Vinh Phuc province proposed to amend the Law on Employment in the direction that those who have never received unemployment benefits should be paid when they retire. Illustration photo: Chi Hieu

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said that unemployment insurance is a short-term insurance (like health insurance), with a high risk sharing between employed people and unemployed people; many people pay but only a few unemployed people are entitled to it.

Thereby, to support workers to maintain employment, training, consulting, job referrals and partially compensate income for workers when they lose their jobs.

Currently, the average monthly unemployment insurance contribution is 6 million VND. A person who pays for at least 12 months with the amount of 1% x 6 million VND x 12 months = 720,000 VND (equivalent to 12%) can enjoy benefits up to nearly 500%.

To have enough funds to pay for one person to receive the maximum unemployment insurance benefits, nearly 40 people must contribute. In reality, for every 12-14 people who contribute to unemployment insurance, there is only 1 person who receives it.

Talking to VietNamNet about the above issue, Mr. Bui Sy Loi, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs, said that the principle of unemployment insurance is "pay, receive". Therefore, it must be paid to workers when they encounter difficulties. Even for those who have paid social insurance for 15 years and are waiting for the regime, payment should still be made to workers.

According to Mr. Loi, unemployment insurance is a “midwife” for businesses and employees when they encounter difficulties. Therefore, during the Covid 19 pandemic, the State has spent 38,000 billion VND from the Unemployment Insurance Fund to support employees and businesses to overcome difficult times.

However, Mr. Loi also said that workers cannot pay as much as they receive because unemployment insurance has risk sharing like health insurance.

“The state's responsibility is to ensure payment for workers, but workers should not rely solely on unemployment insurance,” said Mr. Loi.