Workers' worries
Graduated from a vocational college with a degree in engineering, Mr. Dam Van Thuy in Phu Tho province entered the industrial park in 2009. After more than 10 years of working, Mr. Thuy's current salary has reached about 14 million VND/month. According to him, this income is enough to cover personal expenses and send some money back to his wife and children in the countryside.
Previously, Mr. Thuy's wife was also a worker in the industrial park where he worked. However, when giving birth, she was forced to take a break and return to her hometown, looking for a job at a leather shoe factory near her home to conveniently take care of her young child.
Mr. Thuy said that his salary is quite in the workshop group, but to achieve the current figure, he has to work for many years, accept overtime and stay long-term. According to him, new employees who join the company only receive a basic salary of 5-6 million VND, not including allowances or overtime.
At the discussion session on the socio-economic situation in the National Assembly at the 10th Session of the 15th National Assembly, delegate Nguyen Thien Nhan (HCMC delegation) proposed raising the retirement age to 65 with the expectation of having 5 million more workers to serve the double-digit economic growth target. This proposal quickly received the attention of workers.
As for Mr. Thuy, he frankly expressed his desire to retire earlier. "Working directly like us around 50 years old is too much. The older you get, the more I see that my body can no longer keep up with the rhythm of work" - he shared.
Step carefully
Dr. Bui Sy Loi - former Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs (now the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society) said that it is necessary to look directly at the reality of the quality of Vietnam's labor force. Currently, the majority of Vietnamese workers work in manual labor conditions, high intensity, toxic environments, and under great pressure.
According to a survey by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (now the Ministry of Home Affairs), on average, 60% of male and 70% of female workers said their health will decrease significantly after the age of 55. Many people working in the fields of construction, textiles, mining, transportation, etc. cannot continue to work effectively after the age of 60.
Meanwhile, the current retirement age (60 for men, 55 for women) has been and is being gradually adjusted to increase according to the 3-month/year roadmap for men and 4-month/year for women, towards 62 years old for men and 60 years old for women by 2035. "This is a cautious step, with scientific and sociological basis. We are still adjusting according to this roadmap," he said.
Dr. Bui Sy Loi said that the issue of increasing the retirement age needs to be handled flexibly and needs to be classified as a profession. In the spirit of Resolution 28-NQ/TW on reforming social insurance (SI) policies and the 2019 Labor Code, the retirement age needs to be adjusted flexibly, in accordance with each group.
He analyzed that for the group of workers with intelligence, science, management, education, health care... they can work until the age of 65 or more if they are healthy and volunteer. The group of workers who are arduous, toxic, or work under industrial lines should be able to retire earlier (50-55 years old) but still enjoy full social insurance benefits.
In addition, it is necessary to allow employees the right to choose to retire early or late within certain limits to ensure fairness and humanity.
Thus, raising the retirement age to 65 years old is necessary in the long term, but should only be implemented according to the roadmap, associated with improving job quality, occupational health and working conditions.
"In short, increasing the retirement age is a trend but cannot be rushed, it is necessary to have a suitable roadmap to increase the retirement age. The important thing is to improve the working environment and occupational health for workers; arrange and rearrange the scientific workforce; ensure fairness among professional groups.
In particular, in my opinion, a flexible, humane roadmap with the consensus of workers is the key to the retirement age increase policy coming into life effectively, sustainably and fairly" - Mr. Bui Sy Loi suggested.
