Wages and pensions were among the issues discussed in a group of National Assembly Deputies on May 25.

Nguyen Thien Nhan, a Deputy from HCM City, agreed with the government’s plan to build a roadmap for wage reform. He pointed out that many workers who have had enough working time and paid enough social insurance premiums receive modest pensions that cannot fully cover their basic needs.

“In HCM City, we have met many retired workers who receive VND2.5-3 million a month in pension after 30 years of working,” he said.

He asked to specify the wage reform aims. The country has been unified and enjoyed independence for 48 years, while the economy has been developing well with great achievements with the GDP per capita reaching $4,000 per annum. Meanwhile, many people are still complaining about low wages and pensions.

Nhan called for re-defining the principles of paying workers. It is necessary to set minimum salary levels to ensure minimum living standards. In principle, one worker must get a wage high enough to feed himself and nearly enough to feed one dependent member of his family as well.

Pham Khanh Phong Lan, a Deputy from HCM City, agreed with Nhan, saying that after many years of wage reform, many people still complain that their salaries are not enough to cover basic needs.

Lan believes that increasing wages for workers should not only rely on the arrangement of insurance agencies. The social insurance premiums in Vietnam are low and it is not easy to raise the premiums.

The basic salary adjustment also remains inadequate. Salaries increase only by several hundreds of thousands of dong each time. Not only retired workers, but people of working age, including newly graduated doctors and pharmacists, also receive salaries which are not enough to live. Lan emphasized the need to design a more reasonable salary policy.

Meanwhile, Le Thanh Van from Ca Mau believes that wage reform should not rely on the state budget. Salary restructuring needs to be carried out through the streamlining of the state apparatus. In other words, the total amount of salaries remains unchanged, but the number of salary recipients decreases.

Speaking at the National Assembly opening session on May 22, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai said the government will soon submit to competent agencies a roadmap on wage reform and create a plan on adjusting regional minimum wages.

The government recently released a decree on raising the basic salary from VND1.49 million to VND1.8 million, to be effective on July 1.

Thu Hang