The minimum wage of 9.5 million Vietnamese laborers working in domestically-owned and foreign-invested enterprises goes up as of January 1, 2009, following the Government’s decrees dated on October 10, 2008, the Phap Luat Vietnam (Vietnam Law) newspaper reported on January 2.
Minimum salary hike this time is part of packages by the government of Vietnam to boost investments and consumption to avert economic slowdown. Under the government decrees, four different minimum wage levels have been stipulated for four different zones.
Zone 1, which includes HCM City and Hanoi (including Ha Dong City of the former Ha Tay province), will see the highest increases in the minimum wage. The new minimum wage level for domestic owned enterprises will be VND800,000/month (US$50), while the level for foreign invested enterprises will be VND1.2 million/month (US$75).
Zone 2, which includes a number of new districts of Hanoi (Thuong Tin, Hoai Duc, Dan Phuong, Thach That, Quoc Oai and Son Tay City); districts of HCM City, the districts in Can Tho City (Ninh Kieu, Binh Thuy); Ha Long City (in the northern province of Quang Ninh); Thu Dau Mot town and districts (Thuan An, Di An, Ben Cat, Tan Uyen) in the southern province of Binh Duong, will have the minimum wage of VND740,000/month (US$46.25) for the laborers in domestic owned enterprises, and VND1.08 million/month (US$67.5) for foreign invested enterprises.
Zone 3, which includes the remaining districts of Hanoi; Bac Ninh City; Tu Son town; districts (Que Vo, Tien Du, Yen Phong) in Bac Ninh Province; Bac Giang City; districts (Viet Yen, Yen Dung), Bao Loc Town and Da Lat City in Lam Dong Province; Nha Trang City and Cam Ranh Town in Khanh Hoa province; Trang Bang district in Tay Ninh province, will have the minimum wage levels of VND690,000/month (US$43.12) and VND950,000/month (US$59.37), respectively.
Zone 4, which includes the remaining areas, will have the minimum wages of VND650,000 (US$40.62) and VND920,000/month (US$57.5), respectively.
The adjustments demonstrate the Government’s determination to improve living conditions for workers, especially low-income earners, in an effort to ensure social welfare and stabilize macro-economy, said the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).
Vietnam now has more than 45 million people of working age. Of the total workforce, laborers in the state-owned sector accounted for 9.6 per cent, those in the non-state-run sector made up 88.8 per cent and 1.6 per cent in the foreign-invested sector.
Since 2003, the Vietnam government has raised the minimum salary four times. Its latest increase was from VND210,000 (US$13) to VND540,000 (US$33) per month as of early 2008.
Vietnam plans to apply a standard minimum wage for all sectors by 2010. (Vietnam Law, Viet Nam Economic Times)
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