VietNamNet Bridge - According to the Committee for Social Affairs of the National Assembly, the current minimum wage in the public sector satisfies about 38.4 percent of the minimum living standard. The increase in the minimum salaries of the public sector and enterprises last year failed to reach the goal.

The NA Committee on Social Affairs has sent NA deputies a report on a number of labor and employment issues. According to this agency, said that in 2012, economic growth did not reach the target, resulting in the adjustment of the minimum wage increase for the public sector at only VND1.15 million ($50) per month, while it was expected at VND1.3 million. This level meets only 38.4 percent of the minimum living standards of workers.

The minimum wage for workers in the private sector and cooperatives in 2012 only increased by an average of 17.4 percent, also lower than the expected rate of 36.4 percent.

In 2012, the employment target was also not achieved. The unemployment rate for working-age people in the urban areas is 3.25 percent.

Especially, last year the unofficial labor rate is up to 36.6 percent, compared to 34.6 percent in 2010 and 35.8 percent in 2011. The move of unemployed workers into the informal sector showed the impact of approximately 54,200 dissolved or bankrupt corporates in 2012 to the issue of employment in the formal sector. In the first quarter of 2013, the unemployment rate continued to rise compared to 2012.

In the first quarter of 2013, economic growth reached 4.89 percent, higher than the same period of last year. However, in the first four months of 2013, approximately 19,600 businesses shut down or dissolved and this made negatively impact on the employment situation in the formal sector.

The number of workers who joined the unemployment insurance system rose from 7.9 million in 2011 to 8.3 million in 2012, and the number of people who benefit from this kind of insurance increased in the last three years, from 145,000 people in 2010 to 410,000 in 2011 and 461,000 in 2012. In particular, in the three years offering this kind of insurance, the rate of unemployment workers who were trained is only 1 percent.

Reviewing the operation of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the NA Committee for Social Issues highly appreciated the Ministry’s issuance of a number of policies on labor export which helped expand the markets for Vietnamese workers. However, the committee urged the ministry to increase the trained-labor rate, which is only over 30 percent at present.

Le Ha