The HCM City Department of Finance plans to submit a proposal to the People’s Council to increase salaries for Government workers in line with the recent National Assembly Resolution No 54 for “piloting a special mechanism and policy for the development of HCM City.”

HCM City prepares to try out merit-based salary for Government workers. — Photo baogiaothong.vn

The resolution allows the city People’s Council to decide the salaries for public workers based on their capability, which it can increase to up to 1.8 times their current salary.

According to statistics from the central government and HCM City, in 2017 the general worker productivity in the city was 2.7 times the national average, while for State staff it was 1.5 times. Thus, the latter’s income was not commensurate to their productivity.

The income increase is very important because Government workers in HCM City are believed to have a lot of responsibility but get paid a low income, lower than people working in the private sector, meaning the Government finds it hard to retain talent.

The current salary system is mostly based on certificates and seniority, and does not reward professionalism or efficiency.

According to the department’s calculation, more than 140,000 staff are likely to get hikes and the city will need to pay more than VNĐ2.3 trillion (US$100 million) extra in 2018 with a maximum increase of 0.6 times the current salary.

The level will be increased to 1.2 times in 2019 and 1.8 times in 2020 based on the city’s finances.

This is one of 21 projects the city People’s Committee will deploy to concretise the contents of the resolution. — VNS