Instead of being increased by 10% as of October 1 as scheduled, the monthly minimum wage is expected to increase by 20% as of early 2008.
Vietnamese garment workers in struggle
Talking to the press on the sideline of a conference on vocational training and job creation held in Hanoi on May 11, Minister of Labour Nguyen Thi Hang said that the ministry was about to submit to the government a minimum wage reform scheme for 2008-2012. Accordingly, the minimum wage will be increased each January so that by 2012 it will be the same for both local and foreign-invested enterprises.
“If the minimum wage increases by 10% as of October 1, 2007 (VND45,000/month), we will have to increase it an additional 10% in early 2008. This will not help improve the lives of workers much while make complications for employers. So we have chosen the solution to increase it 20% in January 2008. At that time the minimum wage will be VND540,000 – US$33.7,” she said.
From 2004-2006, the minimum wage rose from VND210,000 ($13.1) to VND290,000 ($18.1) and VND450,000 ($28.1).
Experts said that those levels of wage were less than the labour market and didn’t meet the minimum living needs of labourers. However, the increase can’t immediately catch up with the real requirements since the capacity of the State budget and small and medium-size enterprises is limited.
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