Ms. Pham Thi Hao (47 years old) - a worker at Amara Vietnam Shoe Company Limited (Nam Dinh) - said that the regional minimum wage greatly affects monthly income as well as social insurance benefits.
Ms. Hao said that after 8 years of working, the basic salary increased from more than 3.1 million VND to nearly 4.5 million VND. According to Ms. Hao, this increase is quite low, not commensurate with market prices. If you only receive a basic salary and allowances, it will be difficult to ensure your life.
“My current total income is nearly 10 million VND. Of which, the basic salary is nearly 4.5 million VND, other allowances are about 2 million VND, the rest is overtime and night shift pay. Without overtime, it is very difficult to spend every day,” said Ms. Hao.
Compared to market prices, the female worker said that rice prices, food prices, electricity prices... have all increased, even increased sharply, while the regional minimum wage only increased by 6% after 2 years (from 2022 - 2024), which is quite a disadvantage.
According to Ms. Hao, overtime pay depends a lot on the basic salary of the employee. The higher the basic salary, the more overtime and night work pay, and the total monthly income also increases accordingly.
“In May 2024, my basic salary was 4.2 million VND, my income that month was about 9.4 million VND. In June 2024, the company increased the basic salary (before the State's regulation on July 1, 2024), my total income in June increased to nearly 10 million VND" - Ms. Hao said.
Ms. Hao shared that when the regional minimum wage increases, the company will have a basis to pay social insurance with a correspondingly high salary. This means that both working office hours and overtime, benefits will increase accordingly.
Female workers hope that by 2025, the regional minimum wage will increase by at least 10% to balance the interests between the company and the workers, while ensuring better benefits for workers in both work and daily life.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh (21 years old, Nam Dinh) - a leather shoe worker - shared that she is often concerned about the salary level for social insurance contributions. Because in the future, insurance benefits greatly affect her personal plans.
“My husband and I are planning to have a baby soon. With my current basic salary for insurance, I expect to receive only about 24 million VND for 6 months of maternity leave. It is very difficult to ensure a living without generating income,” said Ms. Ngoc Anh.
According to the female worker, there will be about 2 months in the year when the company has little work. With the current basic salary of 4,085,000 VND, if she only works 8 hours a day, Ms. Ngoc Anh will only receive about 5.5 million VND/month, making it difficult to ensure basic daily activities.
In addition, in November 2024, the female worker unfortunately had an accident at work and had to be hospitalized for 10 days. The amount of money Ms. Ngoc Anh received was also quite low, just enough to cover the costs of regular examination and treatment.
“My social insurance salary is not too high, so 10 days in the hospital only gets 135,000 VND/day, enough to pay for medicine, treatment, and daily meals at the hospital after 80% has been paid by health insurance,” said Ms. Ngoc Anh.
Female workers hope that by 2025, the regional minimum wage will be adjusted to increase by 15%. That way, if they have a health problem or become unemployed or have a maternity leave, they will not have to worry about expenses or worry their loved ones.
