Motivation for workers
As an official working at a public non-business unit in Hanoi City, Ms. Nguyen Thu Ha (Cau Giay, Hanoi) said that she has high hopes for the adjustment to increase the base salary in the near future. According to Ms. Ha, the income of officials today is still mainly based on salaries according to coefficients and the base salary level, while living expenses are increasing.
Ms. Ha shared: "For many years, every time the base salary increases, it brings a certain motivation to people working in the public sector. Although the increase is not too large, it helps compensate for some of the daily spending pressure, especially for those with families and young children.
According to Ms. Ha, in addition to increasing the base salary, many civil servants also want the salary policy to continue to be reformed in the direction of linking to job positions and work efficiency.
The Prime Minister has issued Official Dispatch No. 38/TTg-QHĐP on implementing the Resolution at the 10th Session, 15th National Assembly. According to the attached task appendix, the adjustment of the base salary, pension and allowance and subsidies is identified as one of the key contents that need to be organized and implemented in the coming time.
Deputy Director of the Department of Salary and Social Insurance Tong Van Lai (Ministry of Home Affairs) said that the plan to adjust the base salary in 2026 will be calculated based on the consumer price index, economic growth rate as well as the ability to balance the state budget, ensuring harmony between the goal of improving the lives of salaried people and stabilizing the macroeconomy.
Avoid brain drain
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong - former Director of the Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs (Ministry of Home Affairs) shared that there are currently 3 main approaches to determining the base salary.
The first method is to approach according to the minimum living needs. In this way, the salary level needs to ensure the cost of reproducing labor, including basic living expenses and items such as social insurance, training, and social security. From the minimum living standard, the minimum wage will be calculated, then the coefficient will be applied to determine salaries for levels in the system.
The second method is to approach according to the labor market. Accordingly, public sector salaries need to be compared with the salaries of equivalent positions in the market.
For example, if university-educated workers on the market today have an average salary of about 10 million VND/month, then public sector salaries also need to be designed at a corresponding level to avoid brain drain" - she gave an example.
The third method is to approach macroeconomic balance, i.e., determining the public sector's wage fund based on the scale of the economy; for example, the proportion of wage expenditure in GDP, then allocated to the number of workers in the system to calculate the average wage.
From these approaches, Ms. Huong believes that if the base salary mechanism is still maintained, the annual adjustment must at least compensate for price slippage and reflect economic growth.
In principle, the minimum base salary increase should be equal to the GDP growth rate plus the consumer price index (CPI) to preserve the value of salaries" - Ms. Huong said.
