Assessing the impact of wage increases on living standards and consumer prices

According to the delegates, in recent times, the Party and the State have made many efforts in innovating and reforming salaries as well as salary-related policies; helping those receiving salaries from the State budget to ensure their living conditions and feel secure in their work. This salary increase also implements the spirit of Resolution 27-NQ/TW and Conclusion 83-KL/TW of the Politburo.

According to the new salary increase, from July 1, 2024, the Government proposes to increase the basic salary by 30% from 1.8 to 2.34 million VND/month; increase the current pension and social insurance allowance by 15%; supplement the public sector bonus fund by 10% of the basic salary fund. The preferential allowance for people with meritorious services will increase by 35.7% from 2.055 million VND to 2.789 million VND/month; the social assistance standard will increase by 38.9% from 360,000 VND to 500,000 VND/month; the regional minimum wage will increase by 6%. In the current conditions, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries are still facing difficulties, so increasing salaries is a great effort of the Party, the National Assembly, the Government and the Government's proposed salary increase is the optimal solution.

Regarding implementation resources, delegate Tran Thi Hoa Ry (Bac Lieu) said that according to the Government's proposal, there are 5 sources in accordance with the spirit of Resolution 27-NQ/TW and Conclusion No. 83-KL/TW of the Politburo. However, from the source of increased revenue and surplus (savings) of the locality, salary reform has been arranged in different levels from previous years. Some localities ensure implementation, some localities have great difficulties, so the Government needs to have solutions and support mechanisms for these units to ensure synchronous implementation of salary adjustment policies. On the other hand, to meet the increased spending resources according to the new salary increase regime, there also needs to be a mechanism to guide the correct and sufficient collection of taxes and services. Therefore, the delegate suggested that the Government pay attention to this issue and have a suitable guidance mechanism to reduce social impacts, while ensuring resources for implementation.

Delegate Le Kim Toan (Binh Dinh) said that while the new salary and allowance tables of the public sector according to Resolution No. 27-NQ/TW have not been implemented, salary increases are necessary. However, the Government needs to speed up the research progress so that by the end of this term at the latest, a new salary scale can be formed and job positions can be identified, job position descriptions can be described and salaries can be paid according to that description as required by the Central Resolution, so that the new National Assembly term can implement it.

In addition, delegate Le Kim Toan said that the Government needs to calculate and have a suitable plan to compensate for the increased salary for public service units implementing the autonomous mechanism. Because for these units, the balance of funds to pay civil servants' salaries is the revenue from service prices. While service prices have not been adjusted, there is great pressure on public service units implementing the autonomous mechanism. At the same time, when salaries increase, consumer prices will increase, also affecting people's lives. The delegate suggested that the Government should soon have a plan for this situation.

On the sidelines of the National Assembly, delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (Hai Duong) emphasized that the salary adjustment from July 1 is the biggest adjustment ever. And the story of the need for solutions to control inflation and prices to avoid the situation of "when salaries increase, prices also increase" is not a new story. Therefore, the current problem for the Government is to have solutions to manage the macro economy to control prices, prevent the phenomenon of "following the flow", taking advantage of salary increases to increase prices abnormally. From there, the salary increase will truly improve the lives of workers and the joy of salary increases will be complete.

Sharing the same view, delegate Le Minh Nam (Hau Giang) said that when approved by the National Assembly, the Government needs to have solutions to limit negative impacts, especially to avoid the situation of "increasing wages but also increasing prices" which reduces the meaning of the wage increase. The Government needs to consider and evaluate some impacts on price and inflation factors, because increasing wages means increasing public spending, or it can also increase spending and consumption needs.