At this 4th Session, the Government submitted an adjustment to increase the base salary from 1.49 million VND/month to 1.8 million VND/month, equivalent to an increase of about 20.8% of the basic salary for cadres and civil servants. In addition, the proposal to increase pension spending and social insurance benefits is also proposed to apply to subjects paid by the state budget about 12.5%; additional support for people who retire before 1995; increase the preferential allowance for suppliers and social security policies associated with the base salary by 20.8%. In particular, this adjustment is expected to be implemented from July 1, 2023; separately, the adjustment to increase occupational allowances for preventive medicine and grassroots health workers is expected to be implemented from January 1, 2023.

Group discussion on the Government's proposal to increase salary

According to Hoang Anh Cong, Deputy Head of the People's Volunteer Committee, one of the issues that received the attention and expectations of voters and people nationwide for the 4th Session is the NA's decision to consider raising wages for civil servants. According to Cong, we have just experienced the Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control, so the damage to the economy is huge. Therefore, it is appropriate to propose a policy to increase wages for public employees during this period.

Also according to Cong, in recent years, a large number of public servants, especially the medical team in the health sector, have moved abroad to work a lot. One of the reasons for this situation is the pressure of work as well as the current salary and allowances that do not meet the lives of people. Therefore, the increase in salary is very important in strengthening people's confidence, compensating for employees' efforts so that they have more funds to cover their lives. This salary increase is also a continuation of the salary reform program we will have to implement.

Interested in increasing the base salary in the present time, deputy Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (Hai Duong delegation) said that the proposal to increase the base salary in 2023 is reasonable. Vietnam has basically controlled the Covid-19 epidemic, and the economy after the pandemic is gradually recovering. Besides, there are also very meaningful programs for socio-economic recovery after the pandemic. In addition, after the Covid-19 pandemic, the lives of the vast majority of people were greatly affected in a negative direction. For the public and civil servants, although it is not as obvious as other businesses or people, their lives are also greatly affected by the economy and work pressure.

Deputy Nguyen Thi Viet Nga

Regarding the salary increase proposed by the Government, Nga said that the salary reform at this time is extremely meaningful, however, the increase of 20.8% is only a mental encouragement. For civil servants, if calculated according to the current salary scale plus a 20.8% increase, the amount of extra money per person in a month is still low compared to current life needs. However, it is expected that there will be gradual reform because it depends on the national budget.

When paying salaries according to the new salary calculation method, the salary system will be much more reformed. This is also the expectation of the contingent of public servants receiving state budget salaries. “In order for public servants to be able to live on the salary from the state budget with peace of mind, it is important to have strong enough resources, which must go hand in hand with numerous economic development solutions. Currently, the Government is trying to reform wages along with rearranging the units and streamlining the payroll, because part of the salary spent to maintain a bulky machine is also very expensive." Nga analyzed.

Unfortunately, at present, there is an occurring brain drain phenomenon in state agencies. Accordingly, there are cases of capable people moving from the public sector to the private sector, due to the fact that the wages they receive from the public sector are too small compared to the private sector. Besides, there is a phenomenon of quitting jobs to do other jobs that earn higher incomes and require less hard work.

At the group discussion on the morning of October 22, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra said that in the spirit of Resolution 27 of the Central Government, from 2021, salary policy reform will be implemented. However, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Politburo and the Central Executive Committee have carefully considered and decided to delay the salary reform within a certain period of time. When the salary reform policy has not been implemented, the base salary will be adjusted, but in the past 3 years (2019-2021), the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the economy, so the base salary increase has not been implemented./.