An made the assessment when he led a commission team to the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai on May 25 to survey the real production situation at two local enterprises in the province.

Deputy Head of Party Central Committee's Economic Commission Do Ngoc An delivers a speech on May 25 at the Yen Bai Forest Agricultural Products and Foodstuff Joint Stock Company

He said: “It is a great effort that while the company has very few orders now and it has to reduce working hours, it still tries to pay social insurance for the employees in full.”

Therefore, he ordered the provincial leaders to create a more favourable mechanism for the company to continue to promote their strengths in production, thereby raising the average payment of social insurance for the employees, he said.

Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Tran Huy Tuan said there are few industrial products with high competitiveness in the province.

The company is one of the few local enterprises in the province trying to maintain products with its own strengths, he said.

Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Tran Huy Tuan at the meeting

However, there are still many difficulties in the current situation, he added.

"The company’s efforts to maintain jobs and pay social insurance contributions are remarkable," he said.

Nguyen Thanh Ha, General Director of the company, said the company was established in 1980 and equitised since 2004.

Currently, the average income of employees is VND8.1 million (US$348) per month. The company has paid social insurance for 201 employees, he said.

He said the average salary for social insurance contributions is nearly VND5.5 million ($236) per month, accounting for about 69 per cent of the total income.

So far this year, the unit has contributed VND1.4 billion ($60,159) to the health and social insurance fund, he said.

Statistics showed that the total amount of money that employees at the company benefited from policies of sickness, maternity, convalescence and rehabilitation was over VND471 million ($20,200) so far this year, he said.

Explaining that the average salary to pay social insurance premiums is lower than the actual income, he said, currently, the workforce at the company is young, and they have not had working seniority, so the salary coefficient is still low, leading to a low salary for paying social insurance contributions.

The factory's capacity now reaches only about 30 per cent of the designed capacity while the average salary of employees tends to decrease due to few orders, he said.

“However, the company still tries to pay full social and health insurance contributions for employees according to regulations," he said.

A team of Party Central Committee's Economic Commission visits Hoang Lien Son Technical Ceramic Joint Stock Company in the mountainous province of Yen Bai

Bright spot

Le Long Giang, Director of Yen Bai Forest Agricultural Products and Foodstuff Joint Stock Company, said the company established in 1972 and was equitised in 2004.

It has eight factories of processing cassava starch and cinnamon essential oil. He said the factories are located in five districts and Yen Bai City with a total of 477 labourers.

The average income of employees is VND9.2 million ($395) per month, he said.

He said the average salary to pay for social insurance accounts for 72 per cent of the actual salary of employees.

In the first four months of this year, the company has paid VND4.6 billion ($197,700) for social and health insurance, he said.

Social and health insurance benefits of employees are fully guaranteed, he said.

Accordingly, 288 employees benefited from the sickness policy; 12 employees benefited from the maternity policy; and four employees benefited from the convalescence policy over the past four months, he said.

The company’s Party Committee, Board of Directors will continue to coordinate with the provincial social security office to effectively implement the policies of social and unemployment insurance, ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of employees in the future, he said.

He also proposed the provincial social security office review, reduce and simplify administrative procedures; expand and diversify online public services; deploy new technical platforms for digital transformation to better serve the interests of businesses and employees participating in social insurance in the future, he said.

Tuan, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee, said agriculture and processing of agricultural and forestry products are the two main production industries of the province.

Workers at Hoang Lien Son Technical Ceramic Joint Stock Company in the mountainous province of Yen Bai

The company's advantage is that it has an available material area and a potential export market, he said.

Besides, the company’s production and business activities are consistent with the economic development strategy of the province; products associated with local popular crops, mainly cassava, he said.

Thus, the company has been stably operated, ensuring jobs and implementing social insurance policy for employees effectively, he said.

An, Deputy Head of Party Central Committee's Economic Commission, said the company's stable production activities not only ensure employee income but also create livelihoods for local households.

Employees at the company have received benefits from social insurance policies, especially those who already have pensions, showing that the company has performed social insurance policies well.

An said he hoped the company would continue maintaining its achievements, ensuring sustainable social security for employees./.