Vietnam’s public employees earn wage less than Southeast Asian peers

Statistics showed that the average income of a public employee in Vietnam is VND10 million, compared to VND56.7 million, VND29 million and VND17 million in Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, respectively.

Noting that a fresh graduate working for the public sector earns just a little more than VND3.4 million a month, Vu Thi Luu Mai, deputy chairwoman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, said more attention is needed to the wage policy.

Income for employees should be considered an investment in human resources.

"(Our) country does not lack talented people. We do not lack enthusiastic people who want to contribute, but we need better policies to create motivation for employees," Mai said.

This issue has been raised for decades without any efficient solutions, Vietnamnet online newspaper reported.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, in 2019, the number of people entitled to salaries and allowances from the state budget, including social protection beneficiaries, was about 11 million. Among them, about 2.8 million are civil servants and public employees receiving salaries and allowances from the state budget. If retirees and other people receiving salaries and subsidies are included, this number can be up to 7.5 million, accounting for 8.3% of the country's population.

There have been many efforts to streamline payrolls at state agencies. By 2021, the payroll was reduced to nearly 2.77 million, and by the end of 2022, it was nearly 2 million (about 255,000 civil servants, more than 1.74 million public employees).

The number in 2022 was cut down by 770,000 compared to 2021 and 800,000 compared to 2018.

It will be difficult to achieve the desired result if the downsizing of employees is only focused on civil servants and officials at management agencies and units. It may only burden the workload for those who are retained.

Meanwhile, the number of people receiving salaries from unions and professional associations takes up a large proportion.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed to spend an additional VND60 trillion to increase salaries and social security payments, with the base salary to increase from VND1.49 million to 1.8 million a month, starting from July 1, 2023.

The total state budget expenditure in 2023 is estimated at VND2,076.2 trillion, up 16.3% compared to 2022. Among them, expenditure on development investment is VND726.7 trillion, and VND102.9 trillion will be spent on debt and interest, recurrent spending including salary payments is up to VND1,172.3 trillion, up 5.4% compared to 2022’s estimate.

According to the 2023 state budget expenditure estimate, the expenses for public management agencies and mass organisations can get up to 46.9 trillion.

The expenses are significant, however the salary public employees receive is still low due to the excessive number of people receiving allowances from the state budget, the newspaper reported.

Despite efforts from the Government, the wage rise is almost nothing compared to the normal living standard. Prices skyrocket before salary is raised.

A certain number of people use low salaries to justify working multiple jobs. In a certain number of cases, they may dwell in illegal activities and push their responsibility on others. Meanwhile, low income is a reason for competent employees to leave the public sector.