Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong (50 years old, Hai Phong) is working as a packaging worker. Ms. Phuong's income depends entirely on whether she has a lot or little overtime.
"For each overtime hour, we are paid an additional 50% of our salary compared to office hours. No overtime is only 4.5 million VND in basic salary and more than 1 million VND in allowances for diligence, fuel, and toxic goods..." - Ms. Phuong said.
With the above income, Ms. Phuong said it was enough to cover the cost of living expenses, food, electricity and water... for 2 people, not leftovers. Every month, when I am sick or have many ban chores - according to Ms. Phuong, I have to use my husband's salary.
Every day, the female worker stays to work for an additional 2.5 hours. During this time, in addition to an income of more than 1.7 million VND overtime, Ms. Phuong was also supported by the company with an additional 520,000 VND for dinner and an output of 100,000 to 200,000 VND.
Ms. Phuong's total income after overtime is nearly 8 million VND/month.
Income mainly depends on overtime, so even though she is very tired, Ms. Phuong still hopes the company will have a stable job to work overtime.
Every time there is little work or the company has difficulties, besides the worry of only working office hours, Ms. Phuong is also very worried about being laid off by the company due to old age.
When hearing the news that there may be a possible reduction in working hours in the near future, Ms. Phuong was both happy and worried. Happy because it will ensure health but worried because income can decrease a lot if you work less time.
Therefore, to ensure income for workers when reducing working hours, Ms. Phuong proposed to increase the regional minimum wage to 10% compared to the present.
"If the regional minimum wage is increased to 10%, even if it is only for working hours, the income will be temporarily stable to ensure daily life" - Ms. Phuong said.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Mien (45 years old, Ninh Binh) - a leather shoe worker shared that every month, there is no overtime or little overtime, and income is significantly reduced.
"In June, we did not work overtime for 15 days, and our income decreased by more than 1 million VND. If he does not work overtime all month, his income can decrease by more than 2 million VND. If I don't work overtime at night, my salary will be reduced by at least 500,000 VND" - Ms. Mien said.
When working overtime, Ms. Mien said that workers have many benefits. In addition to the increased income, the female worker also received an additional 650,000 VND for dinner and 100,000 VND for overtime support.
In addition, every time the company adjusts to increase the basic salary, all workers are extremely happy. According to Ms. Mien, it has only increased by 350,000 VND, and her monthly income has also increased by nearly 1 million VND.
In February 2025, my basic salary is 4.5 million VND, my income from overtime and overtime is nearly 10 million VND. In March, the basic salary increased to 4.85 million VND, my income skyrocketed to 10.8 million VND" - Ms. Mien said.
Therefore, in addition to the need for regular overtime, Ms. Mien still hopes that the State will adjust the regional minimum wage increase as soon as possible.
According to Ms. Mien, increasing the regional minimum wage will urge the company to increase the basic salary for workers. Thereby increasing better income to offset the price of goods on the market and increase the demand for life for workers.
