VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has come up with two scenarios for increasing retirement age to 60 for women and 62 for men; or 60 for women and 65 for men.

Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Dao Ngoc Dung speaks at a meeting of the National Assembly’s Committee on Social Affairs yesterday in Hanoi. — Photo vnexpress.net

Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Dao Ngoc Dung, said either of these options, if approved, will be implemented with a planned timeline so that it would not be an immediate change for labourers.

Speaking at a meeting of the National Assembly’s Committee on Social Affairs yesterday in Hanoi on the Government’s report on Social Security policies implementation and social security fund management, Dung said the amendment of the social security policies were made in compliance with international practices.

He said the project would consist of three layers. In the first layer, the Government will pay social security fees for those who are beneficiaries of State supporting policies and these people will enjoy a pension from these payments. The second layer includes those who have to buy compulsory social security, and the third layer includes those who pay for voluntary social security.

The project also suggested that labourers receive pensions relative to the amount of social security premiums that they have paid, even if the payment time period is less than 20 years, as is currently required by regulations.

“We want to make the project universal, so that everyone can have insurance after they retire. Social security is one of the two pillars that make up the security of the country," Dung said, "it’s necessary to adjust the period of time of payment as some people can’t afford 20 year period.”

“They can get a pension relative to the amount they pay for social security,” he said.

Dung said at the end of 2017, there were 13.6 million people in Vietnam buying compulsory social security. While there were more than 600,000 enterprises operating in Vietnam, only 230,000 buy social security for their workers.

There were about 3 million people who had not bought compulsory social security from about 300,000 enterprises, Dung said.

He also mentioned voluntary social security, adding that currently 66 per cent of labourers are from non-official sectors, which makes the goal of having 50 per cent of labourers buying compulsory social security difficult.

“The State needs to revive their policy in order to support a certain percentage of the social security fees for those in need, so that these people can have pensions when they get old,” Dung said. 

Source: VNS