Mr. D.V.L, 49 years old, is currently a civil servant of Phuong Liet ward (Hanoi). Mr. L started working in the commune in June 2004, with a starting salary of more than 1 million VND/month at that time. In 2009, Mr. L passed the commune civil service exam in 2009, with a salary of nearly 3 million VND/month.
After 21 years of working, Mr. L is the deputy head of the Department of Culture - Society, receiving a salary coefficient of 3.99, additional allowances and special mechanisms according to the Capital Law, he has a total income of nearly 16 million VND/month. Mr. L's wife is a worker, earning nearly 9 million VND/month.
Mr. L said that his family has 2 children, the oldest child has just graduated from university, the youngest child is in grade 10. In previous years, the couple's low salary (about 13 - 15 million VND/month) was so basic that their family still could not cover expenses, living expenses and taking care of their children's education. Because living in the capital and having expensive living expenses, Mr. L's parents have 4 rooms for rent, and have proactively divided half of their rent to help Mr. L and his wife have more money to raise their children.
According to Mr. L, with a total income of about 15 million VND, he and his wife spend about 6 - 7 million VND/month on the education of their two children. With the remaining 8 million VND, the whole family can both spend on living expenses and have enough to eat every day. As for the money Mr. L's parents gave him from the rent, his wife used it to take care of him when he was sick, had work to replace him with a job and to cover additional living expenses.
Recently, the couple's income has increased, and Mr. L has eased his spending burden.
"My eldest son has just graduated from university and has not found a job. His young daughter is currently in school and is completely dependent on her parents. In just the past few years, when my husband and I collectively earned about 22-24 million VND/month, life has been easier. Before that, we had to ask for the support of my parents and wife to even work overtime and work with my mother-in-law to make handicrafts to earn more income, said Mr. L.
Mr. Nguyen Van Chi and Ms. Ha Thi Thu Trang are both civil servants in a suburban commune of Hanoi. Mr. Chi is an officer of the Public Administration Service Center branch; Ms. Trang is an officer of the Department of Culture and Society.
Currently, the total salary of Mr. Chi and Ms. Trang is about 23 million VND/month.
"Previously, we were able to go - come back on time, without any overtime, we took advantage of the opportunity to help our grandmother sell, take her extra goods to sell after work, the total income of the couple was about more than 28 million VND/month. In the past few months, there has been a lot of work, we have come home early and late, only have basic salary and allowances, and our family's income is "difficult", said Mr. Chi.
Mr. Chi and his wife have 3 children: the eldest child is in grade 9, the second child is in grade 6, the youngest child is in grade 1. Although he only let his children go to village schools near where their parents worked to conveniently pick them up and drop them off, Mr. Chi said that spending and living for the family of 5 was quite difficult.
With 23 million VND, Mr. Chi and his wife took out 6 million VND/month to pay off home construction loans; the family of 5 people had about 8 million VND/month for food; the children's education was about 8 million VND/month; the wife used 1 million VND to cover common living expenses.
According to Mr. Chi, in addition to tuition, his children also have to pay for extra classes and take the transition exam. In particular, children who are old, eat well, and have a diet of milk sugar also need to pay attention. "Luckily, we have a small house built on our parents' land, so we can save a lot on rent. Many colleagues in the agency and my wife and I would have a hard time not having a house, Mr. Chi shared.
Talking to Lao Dong reporter about the information that National Assembly deputies have just proposed an average monthly income of civil servants and public employees of 15 million VND or more, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong - former Director of the Institute of Social Labor Science said that the information that civil servants are striving for a salary of 15 million VND/month seems high, but it is a low level.
Ms. Huong analyzed that the average salary of the current labor market is more than 10 million VND/month. The salary coefficient of civil servants is based on the basic salary coefficient, plus some allowances... but the 15 million VND/month is too low. The salary of 15 million VND/month should be the basic salary, which is the salary without adding allowances and other income.
According to Ms. Huong, in the public sector, many civil servants and workers have average university degrees. While many new graduates are paid tens of millions of VND, businesses that attract talent and character can pay tens of millions of VND/month, even hundreds of millions of VND/month, if the public sector pays like that, it will not be possible to compete and attract human resources.
"In short, civil servant salaries must be average, above average, should be compared and balanced with the market, with many other areas to propose, build, and strive for," said Ms. Huong.
Sharing the same view, Mr. Le Quang Trung - former Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Employment emphasized that salary and income are one of the top concerns of cadres, civil servants, and public employees and have a very positive and direct impact on recruitment and use; this is also a breakthrough in attracting, retaining and promoting the abilities of each cadre, civil servant, and public employee, especially for talents in each industry and each level. At the same time, salary also shows recognition, appreciation, honor for contributions, dedication and worthiness to cadres, civil servants and public employees.
In my opinion, the salary of cadres, civil servants and public employees must be at least equal to the average income of society; each person must have at least one person; salaries need to be calculated based on position and work efficiency, regions and specific factors, encourage new fields, apply science and technology, digital technology; regularly improve working processes and working conditions to improve labor productivity. At the same time, there are measures to assess the level of public service performance and promptly handle cases of failure to complete tasks or violations, said Mr. Trung.
