Amendment of regulations on social insurance and unemployment insurance policies

Two important legal documents in the field of labor, employment and social security, the Law on Employment and the Law on Social Insurance, are currently being revised by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

In order to widely inform about the new points and expected revised contents, on November 28 in Hanoi, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs held a workshop on "Information on policies on labor, employment and social security."

Unemployment insurance policy is "heavy" on subsidy settlement

Regarding the situation of labor, employment and implementation of unemployment insurance policy, Ms. Nguyen Thi Quyen, Deputy Director of the Department of Employment (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs) said that currently, there are more than 14.33 million workers nationwide participating in unemployment insurance. The insurance policy plays an important role as an automatic shock-proof mechanism, supporting part of the income of the unemployed.

However, Ms. Quyen also pointed out that the unemployment insurance policy is still focused on unemployment benefits, and the subjects have not covered all groups of workers with labor relations. The regulations on support, training, fostering, and improving skills are quite strict, the financial management mechanism of the organizational apparatus still has many shortcomings, the unemployment insurance fund is a short-term fund but the surplus is still large.

To overcome the limitations of unemployment insurance, Ms. Quyen said that when the Law on Employment is revised in the near future, unemployment insurance policies will be further improved, unemployment forecasting and labor support policies will be enhanced... Specific forecasts will be made for industries that may lay off workers, industries that are short of workers... so that the Government can proactively manage policies.

In addition, the revised Law on Employment will have a number of new points such as: Assessment of national vocational skills certification so that workers' skills are recognized throughout the region; strengthening the capacity of employment service centers; policy coverage for informal sector workers; jobs for elderly workers, etc.

Ms. Quyen also said that because Vietnam is entering the process of population aging, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs will add content about jobs for the elderly to the law for management and support. In particular, when amending the Law on Employment, it will specifically regulate and directly adjust the group of informal workers such as: Technology drivers; craft village workers; freelance workers managing labor...

Complete the plan to withdraw social insurance at one time

Providing information on the important contents of the Project to develop the revised Law on Social Insurance, Mr. Tran Hai Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Social Insurance, (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs) said that the law amendment aims to perfect the legal system on social insurance, towards universal social insurance. This is the first time we have a concept and orientation for the social insurance policy system in Vietnam towards universal social insurance, towards the goal that all people can participate and benefit, and have their health protected through the health insurance policy.

“We also build a multi-layered system and in addition to the contributory pension level, there is an additional level of social pension benefits to ensure that those who are not eligible to receive or contribute to receive pension benefits from the Social Insurance Fund can receive old-age benefits from the State budget,” said Mr. Nam.

Regarding the issue of amending the regulations on receiving one-time social insurance benefits, which still has many opinions, Mr. Nam said that in the dossier of the Law on Social Insurance (amended) submitted to the National Assembly, the Government proposed 2 options for receiving one-time social insurance benefits.

Option 1, group 1 includes those who participated in social insurance before the Social Insurance Law (amended) took effect, after 12 months if needed, they will receive social insurance one time. With this regulation, more than 17 million people participating in social insurance after 2025 when the Social Insurance Law (amended) takes effect, they can still withdraw social insurance one time. Group 2 includes workers who start participating from the date the Social Insurance Law (amended) takes effect (expected July 1, 2025) will not be able to withdraw social insurance one time, except in the following cases: Being old enough to receive pension but not having enough years of contribution to receive pension; going abroad to settle down; suffering from one of the life-threatening diseases.

Option 2 is that after 12 months of not participating in compulsory social insurance, not participating in voluntary social insurance and having paid social insurance for less than 20 years, if the employee requests, it will be settled once but not exceeding 50% of the total time contributed to the pension and death fund. The remaining social insurance payment period is reserved for the employee to continue participating and enjoying social insurance benefits.

According to Mr. Nam, option 2 also faces the challenge of withdrawing 50% of social insurance, resulting in a very low pension; affecting the attractiveness of the policy.

“Recently, the National Assembly also gave opinions on the options for receiving social insurance benefits at a time. The drafting agency will finalize and have options to combine the two options or choose a third option. But whichever option we choose, we aim for the goal of workers staying in the system to have a pension to ensure long-term security,” said Mr. Nam.