VN minimum wage set to rise 5.5%
STARTING next year, minimum wage in Vietnam’s private sector will increase by 5.5 per cent after three-party negotiations between representatives of the State, employers and employees ended on Thursday.
Accordingly, minimum wage for workers in Region I, which covers urban Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, is set to rise to 4.42 million dong ($190.5) while workers in Region II – covering rural Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, along with major urban areas in the country like Can Tho, Danang, and Hai Phong – will earn 3.92 million dong.
Those in Region III, or provincial cities and the districts of Bac Ninh, Bac Giang and Hai Duong provinces, will make at least 3.43 million dong per month, while Region IV, or the rest of the country, will make 3.07 million dong.
The National Wage Council comprising 15 members – split evenly between the labour ministry, representing the State, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( VCCI), representing the employers, and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, representing the employees – holds meetings every year to debate the regional minimum wage for the next year.
Deputy labour minister Doan Mau Diep said the current minimum wage has met 95 per cent of the labour force’s minimum living standards so the raise would make their lives more comfortable.
The labour ministry presented three schemes – increasing the minimum wage by either four, 4.9 or six per cent.
VCCI argued that since the minimum wage has already met 95 per cent of the basic living demands, there’s no need for any further increase to the workers’ wage next year.
The group said if there should be an increase, the rate should be kept at one to two per cent, because boosting minimum wage would increase businesses’ expenditures and hurt their performance, but the organisation said it acknowledged the calls for higher minimum wage from the state and from employees given robust economic growth in recent years.
Minimum wages in Vietnam have been rising for the last three years, with yearon-year increases of 7.3 per cent, 6.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent in 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively.