Many people are interested in contributing opinions to the draft
The Ministry of Home Affairs is drafting a decree adjusting pensions, social insurance allowances and monthly allowances, at the same time increasing the base salary from 2.34 million VND to 2.53 million VND/month.
With option 1, the Ministry of Home Affairs proposes adjusting the combination according to the relative number (percentage) and the absolute number (absolute amount). Specifically, from July 1, pensions and allowances will increase by 4.5% and 200,000 VND/month compared to the pension level, social insurance allowance and monthly allowance of June 2026.
In option 2, the drafting committee proposed adjusting to increase by an additional 8% compared to the pension level, social insurance allowances and monthly allowances for all current beneficiaries.
Contributing opinions on the 2 options proposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr. Nguyen Van Thang (68 years old, Tay Mo ward, Hanoi) said: "Pensions should be increased by 8% according to option 2, and those who retired before 1995 and received low pensions should be compensated with a relatively large amount of money to reduce the benefit difference, because before 1995 there was no social insurance agency".
Mr. Pham Van Trac (Dong Da, Hanoi) said: "Salary increases must be in accordance with the rights of beneficiaries, according to current policies. For those who retired before 1995, they must be adjusted to be in accordance with the benefit level of those who retired after 1995 (if they share the same rank and position) and those who retired in 1995 with low salaries will receive appropriate additional money. Then, it is reasonable to calculate the overall percentage of beneficiaries to be increased, depending on the state budget...".
Ms. Ha Thi Tham (Hoan Kiem ward, Hanoi) said that option 1 is appropriate but still needs solutions for people who are receiving low pensions after 1995.
Currently, the number of people retiring before 1995 enjoying low pensions is still very large. I think it is necessary to consider supporting people with pensions that are too low, below 3.5 million VND/month. These people often participate in work before and after 1995 due to the impact of subsidized salaries, so after retirement, low salaries do not guarantee life.
The Government should also have priority policies for subjects who participated in work before 1995 and retired after 1995. The remaining subjects who participated in work from 1985 onwards, they enjoy according to the market economy and are retired, then increasing the rate lower is appropriate" - Ms. Tham proposed.
It is necessary to adjust to narrow the gap, combining increasing by ratio and supporting by absolute level.
Assessing this issue, Dr. Bui Sy Loi - former Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Social Issues (now the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Society) - said that the plan to increase by 8% simultaneously has a certain basis because pensions are built on the principle of "contributing - enjoying".
People with high pensions are also people with longer social insurance participation and higher contributions, so even adjustments will limit the psychology of comparison between benefit groups.
Reality shows that in many previous adjustments, wage increases often did not keep up with the growth rate of market prices. When policies were issued, the prices of essential goods and services had already increased before, causing the additional increase to be quickly eliminated.
Notably, even with a pension of more than 10 million VND/month, it still clearly feels the pressure of increasing living expenses in the past time.
This shows that for groups with much lower benefits, an increase of a few hundred thousand VND per month is even more difficult to create a significant improvement. "From this perspective, it can be seen that both options currently have a common limitation that the adjustment level is not strong enough. Whether it is an increase of 4.5% plus money or a simultaneous increase of 8%, the additional increase is still not really meeting the expectation of improving life in the context of increasing living costs," Dr. Bui Sy Loi affirmed.
If the increase is not strong enough is a problem, then the distribution of the increase is an equally important problem. For many years, pension adjustments mainly at a percentage rate have clearly revealed limitations.
People with high pensions, when increasing at the same rate, will receive a larger amount of money, while people with low pensions, even if increasing at the same rate, the increase is insignificant. The gap therefore does not narrow but tends to widen.
According to Dr. Loi, the simultaneous increase in proportion may ensure the principle of "payment - benefit" but does not solve the actual income gap between groups.
In particular, the group of people who retired before 1995, many of whom currently only receive salaries from under 3 - 3.5 million VND/month, are facing clear difficulties. This is a group that contributed a lot in the previous period, but due to the old salary mechanism, the low benefit level has been prolonged until now.
Therefore, there needs to be a more flexible approach in pension adjustment, combining increased rates and absolute support. Initially, it is possible to implement a simultaneous increase of about 8% to ensure the principle, but for those who still have a salary below about 3.5 million VND/month after adjustment, it is necessary to compensate more to reach this level.
This is a "bottom-fixing" solution to ensure a minimum living standard for the lowest-income group instead of just a relative increase.
In the long term, the policy needs to aim for a higher goal: Gradually increasing the pension level, especially for low-income groups, approaching the regional minimum wage (currently about 5.3 million VND/month), thereby ensuring a minimum living standard for retirees.
This approach shows the shift from the average principle to the sharing principle. The State not only ensures benefits according to contribution - benefit but also needs to adjust to support low-income groups, especially in the context of many socio-economic fluctuations.
