A worker must have enough salary to raise a child for women to want to have children
On November 10, the National Assembly worked in the Hall, discussing the draft Law on Disease Prevention (amended) and the draft Law on Population.
According to delegate Nguyen Thien Nhan (HCMC Delegation), the Ministry of Health's policy impact assessment report on the draft law proposes four measures to firmly maintain the replacement fertility rate: Mothers who are given an additional month's maternity leave will receive 6.2 million VND; mothers who are given an additional 5 days' leave will receive 695,000 VND; second child born before the age of 35 will receive 2 million; children born in areas with low fertility support 2 million and ethnic women who give birth will receive 2 million. In total, a female student is supported with 9 to 13 million VND at a time.
With the four supporting regulations mentioned above, the delegate said that there is not enough practical basis to be able to firmly maintain the replacement fertility rate.
Based on the regional minimum wage, the delegate calculated that to raise a child, workers also need 50 million/year, 150 million for 3 years and 900 million VND for 18 years.
"The one-time support level at birth as proposed by the Ministry of Health is from 9-13 million, only equal to 1% to 1.5% of the cost of raising a child. The Japanese government supports 22% of the cost of raising a child but they have failed, and if we support 1% to 1.5% and consider it a success and maintain a solid replacement fertility rate, in my opinion, this assessment is very subjective" - delegate Thien Nhan said and asked the Ministry of Health to clarify, with the policies as proposed in the draft, how many more years will Vietnam's fertility rate not continue to decrease, stop and how many more years will it return to replacement fertility?
Contributing opinions, delegates proposed: It is necessary to re-write and explain the concept of replacement fertility to suit the demographic work in the new situation; it is necessary to affirm the viewpoint and principle of population work: Do not trade high economic growth for reducing fertility below the replacement level for a long time; must change the concept of minimum wage to achieve sustainable development.
"There is a simple truth that the minimum wage must be enough to support workers and raise a child to study properly until the age of 18, then workers will have the conditions to have one child, and parents working to raise two children.
If this requirement is not met, the country's fertility rate will never be achieved and a replacement fertility rate will never be maintained stably" - the delegate said.
Proposal to reduce personal income tax for families of 2 children
Participating in giving opinions, regarding Clause 1, Article 13 stipulating a number of policies to support and encourage the encouragement of having two children, such as maternity leave, financial support, and housing, Delegate Nguyen Hoang Uyen (Tay Ninh delegation) said that in practice, the implementation of these policies, especially housing policies, faces many difficulties due to limitations in resources and the ability to balance the budget, especially in localities with difficult economic conditions.
In addition, policies have not really strongly encouraged the role of men in sharing and caring for children.
Therefore, the delegate suggested that the drafting committee review and regulate in a flexible direction, in accordance with reality, ensuring feasibility.
At the same time, supplement a number of sustainable and practical policies such as supporting the development of childcare and preschool services for public and non-public sectors to ensure quality.
"This is a fundamental solution to help reduce the burden of taking care of young children for families, creating conditions for women, especially female workers, to return to the labor market soon" - Delegate Hoang Uyen said.
The delegate also proposed adding a policy of reducing personal income tax for families with two children. According to her, this is a form of direct support that is highly encouraging and in line with the policy trend in some countries facing low birth rates.
"This policy not only provides financial support but also creates favorable conditions for women to confidently give birth and raise children, contributing to the effective implementation of population goals" - the delegate said.
