At the regular Government press conference for April 2024, answering the press about the progress of drafting policy guidelines on wages, the Head of the Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs Vu Dang Minh said that, to implement the wage reform policy according to Resolution 27-NQ/TW of the Central Council’s 7th meeting, XIIth session, on May 21, 2018, the Ministry of Home Affairs has actively, proactively coordinated with the Ministry of Labor – Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, and a number of relevant agencies that have focused on developing 5 salary scale systems.
Specifically, the first salary table is the position salary table for leadership positions in the political system from the central to the communal level. According to Mr. Vu Dang Minh, this content will take many years to promulgate a list of leadership positions, managerial positions, and equivalent positions from the central to the communal level to cover all agencies of Party, mass organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judiciaries.
The second salary table is the specialized salary table for officials, civil servants, and public employees who do not hold leadership or managerial positions.
At the same time, the Ministry is also developing 3 salary tables for armed forces, including those performing key tasks, which include: a salary table applicable to officers of the Vietnam People’s Army, officers, and non-commissioned officers of the Public Security Forces; Salary table for professional military personnel, technical experts of public security; and Salary table for national defense workers, public security workers.
Besides, the Head of the Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs Vu Dang Minh said that, recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs has collaborated with relevant ministries and branches to complete the file to report to the Politburo for comments on the basic contents of the wage policy reform.
“The contents that we need to focus on asking for comments are currently under consideration by the Steering Committee for Wage Reform and we are receiving and clarifying to ask for the Prime Minister’s comments to report to the Government Party Caucus before reporting, seeking comments from the Politburo on specific contents for implementing wage reform,” informed Mr. Minh.
Head of the Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs Vu Dang Minh. Photo source: VGP
Wage reform: The lowest salary is not less than 5 million
Within the framework of the press conference, the Head of the Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs said that, at present, there are still some issues under discussion. Firstly, it is about the agreement of 5 salary scales and 9 groups of allowances for leadership and management positions together with bonus regimes for officials, civil servants, and public employees of armed forces.
Secondly, it is about implementing the preservation of wages as well as income for officials, civil servants holding leadership and managerial positions.
“When we implement the salary arrangement, if the new salary is lower than the old salary, the preservation of salary is allowed in the spirit of Resolution 27-NQ/TW that the new salary will ensure not be lower than the old salary,” said Mr. Minh.
The third issue is the implementation of a subsidy regime for officials, civil servants whose basic salary is lower than the lowest salary of Region 1 applied to the business sector.
“To ensure that officials, civil servants have a living standard that meets a certain level of fixed salary, the Ministry is currently asking for a salary level of about 5 million. That is, the minimum regional salary is applied to these subjects,” said the representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“When we reform the salary, the lowest-income earners will be guaranteed not to be lower than 5 million. This number is subject to the Politburo’s comments,” added Mr. Minh.
The final issue is the implementation of a specific amount of lump sum for civil servants and non-professional activists at the communal level to apply the lump sum to specialized staff of grassroots government.
According to Mr. Minh, these are the main contents to be reported to the Politburo in the coming time. After the Politburo gives comments, the Ministry of Home Affairs will coordinate with related ministries, especially the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Labor-Invalids and Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Finance to develop and submit the authority rules of 3 groups of documents.
Specifically, the Ministry will submit to the Secretariat to issue a Decision on the new wage regime for officials, civil servants of Party, mass organizations, and the Fatherland Front.
At the same time, it will submit to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly to issue a Resolution on the new wage regime applied to officials, civil servants, public employees, those under the management authority of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly and the National Assembly.
In addition, the Ministry will submit to the Government to issue a Decree amending Decree 24 dated February 12, 2024 of the Government regulating the new wage regime for civil servants and public employees of armed forces to replace this Decree.
Accordingly, 12 circulars must be issued to provide very specific guidelines on salary scale systems, payment methods, and salary calculations applicable to new salaries.
The representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs emphasized that very important content is to ensure the source of wage reform. In this regard, the Ministry of Home Affairs has been persistently streamlining its organizational structure and continuing to reduce its staff to increase the source for wage reform.
Regarding building job positions, Mr. Minh said that up to now, there are 3 ministries and branches: Ministry of Labor – Invalids and Social Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Government Inspectorate; The National University and Ho Chi Minh City, Thua Thien Hue have not yet completed the building. The remaining ministries, branches, and localities have completed and are conducting preliminary inspections.
