Even if it’s late, you still have to do it

This is the view of Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong – Former Director of the Institute of Labor Science shared with PV Dan Viet Newspaper when discussing the issue of “should promulgate regional minimum wage by hour?”.

“Minimum wage should be chosen as the basis for salary calculation”

After 2 years of socio-economic stagnation due to the Covid-19 epidemic, many workers’ lives face many difficulties, especially freelance workers and workers without contracts. While, minimum monthly salary Government regulations currently apply mainly to workers in stable jobs in the formal sector.

For employees who do flexible jobs, work part-time for households and small businesses (such as restaurants, supermarkets, coffee shops, etc.) salary calculation is difficult and unfounded.

Therefore, next to minimum monthly salaryit is necessary to specify the level minimum wage hours to expand coverage and increase protection of money minimum wage for groups of workers who do flexible and part-time jobs in accordance with the Labor Code.

To solve this problem, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has submitted to the Government a proposal to promulgate a Draft Decree stipulating the level of minimum wage for workers.

Commenting on this information, Mr. Nguyen Minh Huan – Former Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Chairman of the National Wage Council said that the historical context had only mentioned before. minimum wage per month for workers in the sector with formal labor relations (with contract – PV).

“I suppose taking minimum wage hourly area as the basis, is the basis for calculating wages for workers is appropriate. But should not be calculated according to the wings taken minimum wage month divided to calculate minimum wage hour. This way is not good,” Mr. Huan said.

Talking to PV Dan Viet Newspaper, Mr. Huan said that posing this problem is “not yet ripe”, besides that the management agency does not need to rush, need to study and calculate carefully.

Should not take minimum wage month as the basis for calculation minimum wage hourly zone

Talking about money minimum wage According to the hour, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong believes that it should be issued by money minimum wage The hourly zone will ensure flexible work and labor management. Apply calculation minimum wage Hourly zones also help to eliminate management work in labor relations, creating a driving force for increased productivity and development.

“Gradually minimum wage time zone will change minimum wage region by month. Putting a specific salary proposal is a simple step to formalize, put minimum wage hourly area as the basis of current salary calculation”, Ms. Huong said.

According to Ms. Huong, now minimum wage The hourly zone is being calculated by dividing the monthly salary by the number of hours worked in a day in the month. However, according to her, this calculation method is not suitable. Minimum wage The hourly region must also be calculated based on many other scientific bases such as minimum standard of living, GDP…

It is not appropriate for Vietnam to apply this calculation method, because normally minimum wage always have to be taller minimum wage Monthly. Countries around the world take minimum wage hourly zone to calculate the level minimum wage region by month, while Vietnam is doing the opposite.

“Employees do business outside of receiving” minimum wage region by month, also pay many additional expenses, such as lunch allowance, social insurance payment support; Health insurance … but not with hourly wage workers. So when calculating the money floor minimum wage The region needs to include these amounts, “said Ms. Huong.

According to Ms. Huong’s opinion, to ensure fairness, when calculating hourly wages, it is necessary to multiply the ‘K coefficient’ to ensure that employees can pay social insurance and buy health insurance; training costs… and expenses incurred for labor. According to Ms. Huong, it should increase by 1.3-1.5 times compared to the level of . minimum wage region by month, then divide it evenly by the number of hours worked in a working day, in a month to get the rate minimum wage hourly zone.

Salary for freelance workers: “Strong, everyone counts”

It’s a true story today, when there are freelancers who receive “starvation” wages, but there are also freelancers who scream sky-high wages.

As at present, they are also domestic workers, but hourly workers at centers receive “starvation” wages while centers charge high prices for customer services.

For example, the hourly housekeeper price is 35,000 to 55,000 VND/hour; Baby care hourly 40,000 to 50,000 VND/hour; Taking care of elderly grandparents by the hour at home 40,000 VND to 55,000 VND/hour; Washing dishes at a restaurant 30,000 to 40,000 VND / 1 hour; Office housekeeping, cleaning, office maintenance 30,000 to 40,000 VND / 1 hour … but in fact the hourly salary received is only 15,000 – 20,000 VND / hour…

If you look at this table of wages that the maid service units send to customers, you will see that the service fee is very high, but in fact, the amount of money that the maid laborer receives for the center is only half of the amount. above. This inadequacy is because there is no money floor minimum wage hourly zone, so the strength of whoever he or she agrees on.

Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, with full-time domestic workers, even though they receive monthly salaries, the actual labor can scream salary prices in the sky. The salary of a domestic worker with 2-3 years of seniority can be from 6-8 million VND/person/month (the average salary is higher than the salary of a university graduate 2-3 years).

The absence of a money floor minimum wage hours, making it difficult to manage wages for workers outside the formal sector, potentially unfair and conflicting in the calculation of wages.

Therefore, not only workers but many employers in the informal sector are also looking forward to the issuance of a money floor. minimum wage region.