Ms. Ha Thi Thu Minh (residing in Hanoi) has been attached to a public service unit for 11 years with a salary of nearly 8 million VND/month. Although her income is not high, both of her children attend public schools, so Ms. Minh still has enough for her to cover basic living expenses and tuition fees for her children.
However, the working environment did not have a clear development orientation, causing her to gradually feel stuck. She shared: "The salary system makes it difficult for all efforts to be recognized. People who do 10 jobs are also paid the same salary as people who do 2-3 jobs. Those with a high salary coefficient will receive a high salary" - she shared.
Meanwhile, according to Ms. Minh, the private environment only needs to consider the ability and effectiveness of the work, the recruitment and appointment of personnel takes place quickly, accompanied by a corresponding salary and bonus.
"This is the reason why my colleagues and I, after many years of accumulating experience working in the state, decided to leave" - Ms. Minh shared.
When the old unit was dissolved and merged into a new unit, Ms. Minh decided to quit her job and look for a more flexible working environment. However, she still hopes to reform her salary soon, so that her former colleagues can soon receive a salary worthy of their efforts.
Ms. Minh's story is not the only case reflecting the inadequacy of the current salary payment mechanism in the public sector.
Discussing the draft Law on Civil Servants (amended) at the 10th session, National Assembly Delegate Tran Thi Thu Hang (Lam Dong Delegation) raised concerns about the rights of civil servants to salary, bonuses and salary-related regimes as stipulated in Clause 3, Article 22.
However, the delegate said that the implementation of salary policies and preferential regimes for civil servants is still inadequate.
When implementing a two-level government, there are many tasks for civil servants and public employees but their salaries do not increase significantly.
According to the delegate, the cost of going to work far away, renting a house, studying and other allowances is very large... There are some civil servants who do not rotate, do not have to move to stay in the province to work, but the cost and price are increasing.
In order for civil servants and public employees to make a living on their salaries and feel secure in contributing long-term to the industry to build a team of professional, honest, dedicated civil servants serving the people, the delegate suggested that strong reforms in salaries should be needed.
"City officials are paid a salary commensurate with their job position, so that they can live and devote themselves to their profession, love their profession and always be creative with their profession" - the delegate said.
Recently, the National Assembly voted to pass a Resolution on the central budget allocation plan for 2026.
The Resolution clearly identifies ensuring resources for salary reform policies and social security regimes as one of the top priorities in the 2026 budget allocation.
Of which, the total estimated salary reform expenditure is 57,470 billion VND, included in the total regular expenditure of 860,430 billion VND.
VND 53,554 billion is added to local budgets to ensure the implementation of the basic salary of VND 2.34 million/month for the whole year of 2026.
