Elderly take part in physical exercise in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Tùng

Before retiring, Đào Viết Nở was a deputy manager of a workshop in a paper manufacturing company in Hải Phòng northern port city.

However, now, Nở's pension is less than VNĐ3 million (US$127) per month.

Although he lives frugally, the soaring prices and many old-age diseases mean it is a struggle for Nở to make ends meet.

The 78-year-old lives in An Lão District and retired in 1994 after nearly 25 years of working.

His first monthly pension was VNĐ159,609 ($6.7).

Many years have passed, now, he enjoys a pension of no more than $127.

His wife Nguyễn Thị Liễm was an informal worker. She used to work as a seller at a nearby market.

At present, Liễm does not have any income.

The elderly couple does not have enough to cover their everyday expenses.

Their lives became more difficult when Nở began suffering from kidney disease.

Every month, Nở has to meet with a doctor and spend up to VNĐ4 million ($169) on medicines.

Nở and his wife have three children. Two are married and have their own lives, and a son with an unstable job is living with them.

"My children also have hard lives," said Nở.

"Sometimes they send us some food and drinks, but we don't want to be a burden for them. If we have more pension support, we will have fewer problems."

Trần Văn Diện, a post office worker in An Lão District, said that for those receiving a low pension, it was necessary to have additional benefits.

This contributes to ensuring basic needs and helping pensioners not to feel sorry for themselves and feel that they are a financial burden for their children.

Nở is one of about 230,000 people expected to receive an increase in their monthly pension and allowance from July 1 this year.

The addition was paid by the State budget with a total cost of about VNĐ330 billion ($13.9 million).

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) said that the social insurance policies before January 1, 1995 regulated that pension and monthly allowance were based on the actual working time and the salary level before retiring.

At that time, many employees retired early due to weak heath condition with short working period and low wages, which affects the general level of pension and monthly allowance of those people at present.

Implementing the Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW on reforming social insurance policies and the Resolution No. 69/2022/QH15, the MoLISA proposed to adjust the pension level for retirees before January 1, 1995, but receiving less than VNĐ3 million per month.

Bùi Sỹ Lợi, former deputy chairman of the National Assembly (NA)'s Social Affairs Committee, told the Tuổi trẻ (Youth) newspaper that in the salary policy in the past, the contribution and enjoyment levels were not equal, leading to difficult life for retirees.

To solve this problem, Lợi said that the Law on Social Insurance should be revised.

Specifically, to increase the pension, it is necessary to raise the monthly social insurance premiums.

NA Deputy Trần Thị Diệu Thúy, chairwoman of the HCM City Labour Federation, also told Tuổi trẻ newspaper that the amount of social insurance contributions of many workers was not based on their income but based on salary in the contracts, so the paid social insurance was lower than real level.

Some employees even agree with their enterprises to separate their income into different smaller parts to avoid the highest payment for social insurance.

From these reasons, many people's pensions are low and not enough to live on.

Thúy proposed to raise the maximum social insurance to encourage people to maintain the payment period to receive a high pension later.

In the long term, according to Thúy, the most important thing was to increase the basic minimum salary so that the monthly insurance premiums of employees increase.

Former Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Phạm Minh Huân also said that the State needed to exempt tax for additional retirement payments.

This has three benefits: workers have more income in their old age, businesses are encouraged to pay higher wages to retain high-quality workers, and the pension fund would have more sources, thereby contributing to socio-economic development. — VNS