Laborers at Juki Vietnam Limited Liability Company, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: KHANH TRINH)

Add unemployment insurance beneficiaries

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that the Employment Law was passed at the 6th session of the

XIII National Assembly on November 16th, 2013, taking effect from January 1, 2015. This law is an important basis for developing

policies to support workers, including disadvantaged workers, and enhance employment opportunities for informal sector workers;

support workers to find jobs, access employment and career information through the development of the system of employment

service centers, providing loans to support job creation, public employment policies; support to improve the quality of human resources and

develop vocational skills; support to secure a part of income, help the unemployed return to the labor market soon through

unemployment insurance policies.

However, through the process of implementing the Employment Law, difficulties, limitations and inadequacies have been revealed.

In particular, subjects participating in unemployment insurance under the provisions of the Employment Law have not covered all

subjects with labor relations. Unemployment insurance policy is not really tied to the labor market; some regulations on

unemployment benefits and bases for paying unemployment insurance are no longer in accordance with the spirit of Resolution No.

27-NQ/TW.

Illustrative image (internet)

Therefore, in the draft Submission of the Employment Law (amended) project, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs

proposed to expand three groups of subjects participating in unemployment insurance.

According to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW of the XII Central Committee on Social

Insurance Policy Reform issued on May 23, 2018 (hereinafter referred to as Resolution 28) sets a target that by 2030, about 45% of

the labor force of age will participate in unemployment insurance.

For the period 2015-2023, the number of people participating in unemployment insurance will increase over the years (an average

increase of over 6% / year). By 2023, the number of people with unemployment insurance will account for 31.5% of the workforce

in the age group. Therefore, the goal of striving for about 45% of the workforce of unemployment insurance age to participate in

unemployment insurance by 2030 is a big challenge.

According to the current Employment Law, unemployment insurance beneficiaries have not covered all subjects with labor relations,

and employees with labor contracts from full 1 month to less than 3 months are eligible for unemployment insurance. This is also a

group at high risk of job loss and is subject to compulsory social insurance.

Illustrative image (internet)

On the other hand, the Law also does not cover the group of people working part-time, enterprise managers, controllers, state

capital representatives, representatives of the capital portion of enterprises at companies and parent companies, managers and

operators of cooperatives and cooperative unions with salary.

Therefore, in this draft Law on Employment (amended), the drafting board proposes to amend and supplement the following three

groups of beneficiaries participating in unemployment insurance.

The first is that the employee has entered into a definite-term labor contract of 1 month or more.

The second is a person who works part-time, whose total salary in the month is equal to or higher than the salary used as the basis

for compulsory social insurance contributions at least equal to half of the highest monthly minimum wage announced by the

Government.

The third is the enterprise manager, controller, the representative of the state capital, the representative of the capital portion of

the enterprise at the company and the parent company, the executive manager of cooperatives and cooperative unions with wages.

Flexible unemployment insurance contributions

The draft Employment Law (amended) also proposes flexible unemployment insurance contributions.

Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW and Resolution No. 42-NQ/TW both emphasize the revision of regulations on contribution levels,

enhancing the flexibility of policies to expand coverage, support workers and employers.

The current Employment Law stipulates that the unemployment insurance contribution of employees and employers is fixed at 1%

of the monthly salary. Therefore, flexibility in adjusting unemployment insurance premiums is not guaranteed, especially in cases of

natural disasters, epidemics, economic crises and recessions when the fund has a large surplus.

In fact, in the context of the recent Covid-19 pandemic, the National Assembly Standing Committee has issued Resolution No.

03/2021/UBTVQH15, Resolution No. 24/2022/UBTVQH15 to support employees and employers affected by the Unemployment

Insurance Fund.

This policy has supported more than 346,000 units with nearly 12 million employees to reduce unemployment insurance

contributions by about VND 9,211 billion. At the same time, supporting nearly 13 million workers with an amount of more than VND

30.8 trillion. In addition, the implementation of Resolution No. 24/2022/UBTVQH15 has supported 365,215 people with an amount

of more than VND 1,034 billion.

The draft Law proposes to amend unemployment insurance contributions in the direction of: Employees pay a maximum of 1% of

monthly wages; The employer pays a maximum of 1% of the monthly salary fund of employees who are participating in

unemployment insurance; The State supports up to 1% of the monthly salary fund for unemployment insurance contributions of

employees who are participating in unemployment insurance and guaranteed by the central budget.

***In the year 2023, more than 1.1 million workers submit application for unemployment benefits, up 12.2% from the same period in 2022. In which, more than 1 million people have enjoy this regime.