A teacher in a primary school in Thuan commune, Huong Hoa district in the central province of Quang Tri (Photo: VNA) Statistics showed that the average income of a public employee in Vietnam is 10million VND, compared to 56.7 million VND, 29 million VND and 17 million VND inThailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, respectively.
Noting that a fresh graduate working for the public sector earns justa little more than 3.4 million VND a month, Vu Thi Luu Mai, deputy chairwomanof the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, said moreattention is needed to the wage policy.
Income for employees should be considered an investment in human resources.
"(Our) country does not lack talented people. We do not lack enthusiasticpeople who want to contribute, but we need better policies to create motivationfor employees," Mai said.
This issue has been raised for decades without any efficient solutions, Vietnamnet online newspaper reported.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, in 2019, the number of peopleentitled to salaries and allowances from the state budget, including socialprotection beneficiaries, was about 11 million. Among them, about 2.8million are civil servants and public employees receiving salaries andallowances from the state budget. If retirees and other people receivingsalaries and subsidies are included, this number can be up to 7.5 million,accounting for 8.3% of the country's population.
There have been many efforts to streamline payrolls at stateagencies. By 2021, the payroll was reduced to nearly 2.77 million, and by theend of 2022, it was nearly 2 million (about 255,000 civil servants, more than1.74 million public employees).
The number in 2022 was cut down by 770,000 compared to 2021 and800,000 compared to 2018.
It will be difficult to achieve the desired result if thedownsizing of employees is only focused on civil servants and officials atmanagement agencies and units. It may only burden the workload for those whoare retained.
Meanwhile, the number of people receiving salaries fromunions and professional associations takes up a large proportion.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed to spend an additional60 trillion VND to increase salaries and social security payments, with the basesalary to increase from 1.49 million VND to 1.8 million a month, starting fromJuly 1, 2023.
The total state budget expenditure in 2023 is estimated at 2,076.2 trillion VND,up 16.3% compared to 2022. Among them, expenditure on developmentinvestment is 726.7 trillion VND, and 102.9 trillion VND will be spent on debtand interest, recurrent spending including salary payments is up to 1,172.3trillion VND, up 5.4% compared to 2022’s estimate.
According to the 2023 state budget expenditure estimate, the expenses forpublic management agencies and mass organisations can get up to 46.9 trillion.
The expenses are significant, however the salary public employees receive isstill low due to the excessive number of people receiving allowances from thestate budget, the newspaper reported.
Despite efforts from the Government, the wage rise is almost nothing comparedto the normal living standard. Prices skyrocket before salary is raised.
A certain number of people use low salaries to justify working multiplejobs. In a certain number of cases, they may dwell in illegal activities andpush their responsibility on others. Meanwhile, low income is a reason forcompetent employees to leave the public sector./.
VNA
