'Umbrella-carrying' civil servants spend 17,000 billion VND each year

Mr. Bui Sy Loi - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs - said that according to experts' estimates, up to 30% of civil servants are unable to do their jobs, equivalent to 700,000 people, costing the state budget 17,000 billion VND each year.

On October 12, the Ministry of Home Affairs organized a scientific workshop on “Background and possibilities of salary reform”. The workshop aimed to collect opinions from experts and managers in the process of researching and perfecting salary policies for cadres, civil servants, public employees and armed forces.

Speaking at the workshop, Dr. Le Hong Huyen - Head of the Social Affairs Department (Central Economic Committee) said that the current salary policy has not motivated officials and civil servants to be committed and dedicated to their work. The current minimum wage has not met minimum needs. "A principle is that there will never be good goods at low prices. Therefore, if we want civil servants and public employees to work hard, we must pay them appropriately for their efforts," said Dr. Le Hong Huyen.

Dr. Le Hong Huyen - Head of the Social Affairs Department said that the current salary policy has not motivated officials and civil servants to be dedicated to their work.

Dr. Le Hong Huyen - Head of the Social Affairs Department said that the current salary policy has not motivated officials and civil servants to be dedicated to their work.

However, according to Dr. Huyen, although the official salary and income of civil servants according to the payroll is not high, it does not even guarantee a minimum living standard. However, most civil servants have solid houses and many have their own cars.

From the evidence, Dr. Huyen said that most of the cadres and civil servants have uncontrolled income outside of their salary. That also means that a personal income tax of cadres and civil servants is overlooked. According to Dr. Huyen, this could be a source to contribute to reforming the salary policy.

Although civil servant salaries are low, they are still higher than labor productivity.

The paper sent to the workshop by Mr. Bui Sy Loi - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs pointed out a paradox that although civil servants' salaries are low, they are still higher than labor productivity. Reality proves that there are many civil servants "going to work with an umbrella in the morning and returning home with an umbrella in the evening" while there is a lack of talent and a brain drain.

The Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs said that according to experts' estimates, up to 30% of civil servants are unable to do their jobs, equivalent to 700,000 people, costing the state budget 17 trillion VND each year. In addition, the International Labor Organization (ILO)'s labor productivity assessment report also pointed out that our country's labor productivity is among the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region.

Therefore, according to Mr. Bui Sy Loi, the state administrative apparatus must be rearranged in a streamlined direction, in order to reduce excess human resources in the administrative apparatus, contributing to creating more financial resources to pay salaries to officials and civil servants commensurate with the value of their labor. To do that, streamlining the administrative apparatus is an important breakthrough.

Regarding the same issue, economic expert Pham Chi Lan said that when she discussed with a Minister (retired), he gave the actual figures: Only 1/3 of civil servants "work hard" but cannot finish their work, 1/3 only hinder others and the remaining 1/3 of civil servants "sit around doing nothing".

“If that is the case, how can the country develop if two-thirds of civil servants do not work? This problem not only creates more positions but also creates more apparatus. Sometimes, when one agency cannot do a job, it pulls in other units to do it too,” said Ms. Pham Chi Lan.

According to Ms. Pham Chi Lan, if we still maintain a cumbersome administrative apparatus with many unclear functions and tasks, no matter how big the "salary cake" is, it will never be able to meet the requirements for state employees to live on their salaries without having to think about other issues.

According to Dan Tri