Recently, the Central Steering Committee issued Official Letter No. 43-CV/BCD on the plan to continue to reorganize the apparatus of the political system.
The plan assigns the Government Party Committee to lead and direct the development and completion of the project to arrange and merge provincial and commune-level administrative units (specific functions and tasks, organizational apparatus, staffing; arrangement of cadres, working headquarters, public housing; handling assets, headquarters, etc.).
At the first meeting of the Government Steering Committee on science, technology development, and innovation, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra said that she will focus on completing the merger of provincial-level administrative units before August 30 to be able to immediately implement the operation of provincial-level administrative units starting from September 1.
It is expected that the whole country will arrange about 50% of provincial and municipal administrative units.
One of the issues that people are concerned about is when merging provinces and cities, how will the regional minimum wage in the new administrative unit be calculated?
Since 2009, the regional minimum wage has been adjusted 16 times. In the period 2016-2024, the minimum wage will be periodically adjusted with an average growth rate of 5.96%/year. The average salary of employees receiving a salary increase is 6.57%/year.
Most recently, according to Decree 74/2024/ND-CP, from July 1, 2024, the regional minimum wage will increase by 6% as follows:
- Region 1: 4.96 million VND/month (minimum 23,800 VND/hour)
- Region 2: VND 4.41 million/month (minimum time VND 21,200/hour)
- Region 3: 3.86 million VND/month (minimum 18,600 VND/hour)
- Region 4: 3.45 million VND/month (minimum 16,600 VND/hour).
According to Decree 74, employers with units and branches operating in areas with different minimum wages, in which area the unit or branch operates, shall apply the minimum wage prescribed for that area.
Employers operating in industrial parks and export processing zones located in areas with different minimum wages shall apply the area with the highest minimum wage.
In the appendix of Decree 74/2024/ND-CP, the Government clearly stipulates the places applying the minimum wage, details to the district level.
For example, in Hanoi, the districts and towns of Gia Lam, Dong Anh, Soc Son, Thanh Tri, Thuong Tin, Hoai Duc, Thach That, Quoc Oai, Thanh Oai, Me Linh, Chuong My and Son Tay town are regions 1; the remaining districts are regions 2.
Regarding the adjustment of regional minimum wages, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that according to the plan to deploy tasks in March 2025, the Ministry of Home Affairs will focus on preparing content on adjusting regional minimum wages, including the division of minimum wages in accordance with the arrangement of administrative units and merger of provinces and cities.
Thus, when merging provinces and removing district levels, specialized agencies will have to recalculate the appropriate minimum wage division.
In the immediate future, localities and businesses still need to comply with the provisions of Decree 74. Wherever it is in a district, town or city will still be applied until the Government adjusts.
The adjustment of regional minimum wages is based on the minimum living standards of workers and their families, the correlation between the minimum wage and the salary in the market.
Many other factors will be considered such as consumer price index, economic growth rate, labor supply-demand relationship, employment - unemployment, labor productivity, and corporate payment capacity.
The National Salary Council is responsible for agreeing on the minimum wage adjustment plan and advising the Government for decision.
