Mai, a National Assembly Deputy from Hanoi, deputy chair of the National Assembly Finance and Budget Committee, at the discussion session about socio-economic development on May 31, spent time talking about wage policy.

If allowed by authorities, the government in October 2023 will submit to the National Assembly the overall plan on salary policy reform in accordance with the Politburo’s Resolution 27.

Mai said Vietnam has experienced four wage policy reforms, but the real salaries civil servants receive remain relatively modest.

“Where are we on the world’s income map?” she said. “It would be a lame comparison if you compared the salaries of Vietnamese with developed countries. However, if you just compare Vietnamese people and regional countries, one sees a big difference in their incomes."

A new university graduate in Vietnam has a monthly income of VND3.48 million, while the average salary of a civil servant is about VND10 million. Meanwhile, a civil servant in Thailand has an income of VND56.7 million a month, in Malaysia VND29 million and Cambodia VND17 million.

According to Mai, the Politburo’s Resolution 27 set a very detailed wage reform roadmap. However, the implementation has been delayed for three years. The government has asked for wage reform delays for three consecutive years, saying that it was necessary to gather strength to seek resources for investment and development.

Mai believes that the delay was a right decision. However, at this moment, or after two years of implementing the economic recovery program, the VND14 trillion of the program on economic recovery still has not been allocated and VND429 trillion worth of capital for mid-term public investment has not been delivered, despite urging from the government, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Finance.

“While we are practicing the contractionary policy to reserve resources for investment and development, a portion of resources cannot be promoted effectively in the economy,” Mai said.

What voters are concerned about is how sharp the salary increase would be if the wage reform continues.

Some National Assembly deputies suggested the 21-22 percent salary increase, i.e those who receive VND10 million would get VND2.1 million additionally. Meanwhile, Resolution 27 said that salaries must be the major source of income and the salary policy must ensure Vietnam’s integration process.

She stressed that it is necessary to reserve 50 percent of estimated revenue increase, 70 percent of local budget collection increase and 40 percent of central budget collection increase for wage reform.

Thu Hang