VNEpress-Mar 21
The minimum wage-minimum living standard gap has been widening for years, but there is no solution in sight as workers struggle to make ends meet. Vietnam first introduced the “minimum living standard” term in its 2012 Labor Law, which requires that the minimum wage must meet the minimum living standard. A decade later, the gap between the two has kept widening and the current minimum wage far is from matching the level needed for an average laborer to make ends meet.
The minimum wage in Region 1, referring to the most developed areas of a province or city, has stayed unchanged at VND4.42 million ($194) since 2020, which is 5 percent shy of the official minimum living standard, according to a study by the Research Center for Employment Relations, when compared with the acceptable living standard, the figure is 41 percent lower. One of the reasons for such a wide gap is that the starting point of the minimum wage was too low, said Mai Duc Chinh, former deputy chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor. In 2013, representatives of businesses and workers negotiated and agreed that the first minimum wage level would be VND2.35 million, 30 percent lower than the minimum living standard at the time. In 2014, the labor confederation proposed that the gap be eliminated, but the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs opposed it, saying a sudden surge would hurt businesses. They finally agreed to increase the wage by 15 percent to VND2.7 million. Read more at: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/economy/vietnam-unable-to-match-minimum-wages-with-living-standards-4441616.html
