The Government has just issued Decree No. 161/2026/ND-CP stipulating the base salary and bonus regime for cadres, civil servants, public employees (CBCCVC) and armed forces. Accordingly, from July 1, the base salary increases to 2.53 million VND/month, an increase of 8% compared to the present.
According to Pham Truong Giang, Director of the Department of Salary and Social Insurance (Ministry of Home Affairs), the increase in the base salary by an additional 8% means that the salaries of CBCCVC and armed forces are adjusted to increase correspondingly. According to the assessment of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the process of summarizing the implementation of Decree No. 73/2024/ND-CP stipulating the base salary level, the base salary level of 2.34 million VND/month is currently only about 56.32% of the average minimum wage of the business sector.
Therefore, the adjustment of the base salary along with policies on position allowances, regional allowances and special allowances will contribute to a clear improvement in the income of CBCCVC, especially the team of commune-level civil servants" - Mr. Giang emphasized.
However, according to experts, the increase in the base salary is only part of the public sector salary reform process.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Trung - Faculty of Business Administration, University of Economics and Law, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City - said that for salaries to truly become the main source of income for CBCCVC, it is necessary to implement synchronous reforms, not just stopping at increasing salaries.
According to Mr. Trung, the most important foundation is to improve the job position system, standardize job descriptions and competency frameworks for each position. Salary payment needs to completely shift to a mechanism of paying in specific amounts according to position and title instead of the "base salary multiplier" mechanism.
To make salaries truly become the main income of CBCCVC, it is necessary to shift from the "salary increase" mindset to a "complete reform of the salary payment mechanism", in which the focus is on paying salaries according to job positions associated with efficiency, while ensuring sustainable financial resources and improving the quality of public governance" - Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Trung assessed.
