A suitable incentive mechanism can improve productivity.
On the morning of June 5, at the discussion session of the 14th Vietnam Trade Union Congress, Mr. Pham Dinh Duan - Labor Hero, Deputy Head of Production Control Department, Vang Danh Coal Joint Stock Company, Vietnam National Coal - Mineral Industries Holding Corporation, expressed his opinion on the content of improving national labor productivity from the perspective of workers.
According to Mr. Pham Dinh Duan, although Vietnam's labor productivity has continuously improved in recent years, if compared with many countries in the Asian region, there is still a significant gap.
According to international statistics for 2025, Vietnam's labor productivity is currently only about 41% of Malaysia's, 26.5% of South Korea's, 24% of Japan's and just over 11% of Singapore's.
Each of us workers is very concerned about these figures. These figures not only reflect the quality and income of workers, but also reflect the gap in labor qualifications," Labor Hero Pham Dinh Duan said.
According to him, Vietnamese workers are assessed as hardworking, intelligent, studious and capable of quickly adapting to changes in production.
Reality shows that many Vietnamese workers, when working in a modern environment, are well-trained and equipped with advanced technology, can achieve productivity equal to workers in developed countries. Many foreign businesses highly appreciate Vietnamese workers.
Although labor factors have a significant impact on labor productivity, the gap in productivity mainly comes from technological level, level of mechanization, automation, management capacity and production conditions.
For myself, to improve labor productivity, workers must constantly learn, improve professional qualifications, professional skills and proactively access new technologies. With that spirit, for many consecutive years I have always completed and exceeded the assigned targets, achieving labor productivity from 110 - 150% of the plan," Mr. Pham Dinh Duan stated.
Mr. Duan also said that while the company's average income is about 22.7 million VND/person/month, his own income reaches 35 million VND/month or more.
That result is proof that if workers have a sense of striving, work in a favorable environment and have appropriate incentive mechanisms, productivity and income can be improved.
Personally, I always understand that Vietnam's labor productivity can completely achieve high productivity when each worker strives to be creative, both studying and working with the correct guidelines and policies of the Party, State and businesses", Labor Hero Pham Dinh Duan said.
Sufficient salary and better benefits for workers to feel secure in contributing.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Chi - Chairwoman of the grassroots trade union of New Apparel Far Eastern Vietnam Co., Ltd., under the Dong Nai City Labor Federation, said that currently our country's economy is increasingly developing, from a country with a difficult economy to a country with a high average income and towards high income. However, reality shows that the current salary of workers is not enough to live on.
There are families where both husband and wife are workers, or one worker and one does freelance work but it is unstable and income is precarious.
Therefore, when family events occur, they are completely passive, accumulating finances but not enough. They have to seek help from colleagues, trade unions or even borrow black credit to solve urgent needs.
I wonder, if in the process of working, workers always worry about the issue of food, clothing and money, will they really be assured to work safely, to be able to have creative initiatives to improve productivity and increase income during the production process?" - Ms. Chi shared.
From that reality, Ms. Chi proposed 3 contents: First, propose that the Government continue to study and improve the theoretical basis on the issue of salaries, especially the salary level sufficient to live for workers and their families.
Second, continue to pay attention to investing and perfecting welfare policies for workers, especially social housing, kindergartens, schools, and entertainment facilities to reduce daily spending for workers and improve the quality of life.
Third, continue to pay attention to creating favorable conditions for grassroots trade union organizations to perform well the function of representing, caring for, and protecting the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of union members and workers; thereby contributing to building harmonious, stable and progressive labor relations in enterprises.
I believe that, with the attention of the Party, State, Government, Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and the companionship of businesses, the above recommendations will be gradually realized, contributing to improving the lives of workers and creating more motivation for workers to feel secure in sticking with and contributing to the development of businesses and the country" - Ms. Chi shared.
