Balance of adjustment time
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, for nearly 10 years (2016-2024), the minimum wage has been adjusted with an average growth rate of 5.96%/year. The average salary of employees receiving a salary increase is 6.57%/year.
Normally, each year, the National Wage Council meets to advise the Government to adjust the minimum wage appropriately, in order to ensure the minimum living standard of workers. Most recently, the National Wage Council advised the Government to issue Decree No. 74/2024. Accordingly, from July 1, 2024, the regional minimum wage will increase by an average of 6% compared to 2023.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong - Former Director of the Institute of Social Sciences, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (now the Ministry of Home Affairs) said that the law has clearly stipulated the minimum wage that is adjusted based on the bases: the minimum living standard of workers and their families; correlation between minimum wage and market salary; Consumer price index, economic growth rate; Labor supply and demand relations; Employment, labor productivity ... The guarantee of these factors is the initial step to increase the minimum wage.
From the perspective of the enterprise, Mr. Do Duc Chi - Deputy General Director of Nhan Kiet Human Resources Supply Company Limited proposed: The regional minimum wage may increase from January 1, 2026 because enterprises often have annual plans, 3 years, 5 years and approved before January 1 of the lunar calendar.
Harmonizing the interests of all parties
Mr. Pham Minh Huan - former Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (now the Ministry of Home Affairs), former Chairman of the National Wage Council - said that increasing regional minimum wages has two aspects, which is to help workers feel excited, ensure a better life, increase accumulation but also make businesses face difficulties due to increasing costs.
In the immediate future, the Trade Union needs to carefully study the relevant factors to propose the regional minimum adjustment level to the National Wage Council, before the Council of Organization of negotiating, recommending the Government to "close" the plan to adjust the regional minimum wage. The Government also needs to play a role in the management of prices, controlling inflation, keeping the market stable, having policies to support businesses to recruit and develop production and business.
Workers all want to increase their salary but must harmonize their interests and carefully consider the impact on businesses, especially labor-intensive businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises. If the situation does not change much, salaries can be increased, but the adjustment time from January 1, 2026 is reasonable" - he expressed.
Previously, at the extraordinary session of the National Assembly in mid-February 2025, delegate Nguyen Thien Nhan (former Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee) said that the current minimum wage is only nearly 5 million VND/month. Meanwhile, for a family of two workers to raise two children, the income needs to reach about 20-21 million VND/month. This means that the salary enough to survive must be at 10.5 million VND/person/month.
Therefore, salaries must be doubled to reach the minimum living wage. If there is not enough salary to live on, people will not give birth because they cannot raise them. Mr. Nhan suggested that there should be a roadmap to gradually double salaries from now until 2030, at the latest in 10 years, to switch from the minimum wage to the minimum living wage.
