Salary 5.4 million, thousands of Social Insurance employees quit?

Social insurance salary is 1.8 times higher than the salary of civil servants, but many people still quit their jobs because they complain about low income. Is this hard to understand?

Special salary, almost double

When giving opinions on the revised Law on Social Insurance at the recent conference of full-time National Assembly deputies, many National Assembly deputies strongly opposed the current salary level of this industry, saying it is too high and not worthy.

According to the Prime Minister's Decision dated September 7, 2012, the pilot salary mechanism for social insurance officers and employees has been approved and will be implemented until 2015. Accordingly, officers and employees of this sector will receive a salary level 1.8 times higher than the current salary regime for civil servants and employees. The source of payment will come from the investment profits of the Social Insurance Fund.

Each insurance agent serves 3,380 people.

According to many National Assembly delegates, it is necessary to immediately control the salary payment of the Vietnam Social Security, because this agency is not working effectively. For example, the social insurance debt is still increasing, the investment activities of the Social Insurance Fund only achieve low profits, even, if compared with inflation, it is considered a capital loss, according to delegate Nguyen Trung Thu.

The Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Ethnic Council assessed that social insurance does not require much investment and its activities are not special, so a salary 1.8 times higher than that of civil servants is unreasonable. Delegate Dang Thi Kim Chi even criticized this agency for playing around and eating for real.

Too much work, too little pay?

Speaking on September 12, Mr. Do Van Sinh, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Social Security, said that current salaries in the industry are not as high as many people think.

"Even if the civil servant salary is increased 1.8 times, the average income of our staff is only about 5.4 million VND/month," he said.

Mr. Sinh said that currently, with 63 million people participating in insurance, each officer in this industry must serve 3,380 people, ensuring annual revenue and expenditure of 20,551 billion. This figure is double that of the tax industry.

"A tax officer only has to focus on collecting the correct and sufficient amount of tax, but a social insurance officer will also have to take care of insurance payments. In many localities, pension payments must also be made in person, because the beneficiaries are the elderly," an expert from this agency analyzed.

The workload has been increasing since the Social Insurance and Health Insurance Laws came into effect. If salaries remain as low as before, it will not encourage civil servants in the industry to ensure revenue and expenditure tasks. Especially when the industry is under pressure with a debt of up to 11,500 billion VND in social insurance debt, while there is no inspection authority and no legal tools to effectively collect debts.

Mr. Sinh said that before the Prime Minister approved this pilot mechanism, the request for salary increase as above had received consensus from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and specialized Committees of the National Assembly.

According to previous reports of the two above Ministries, the increase in salary expenditure is at an average level compared to the current salary and income regime in public service units.

In 2011, the salary mechanism for social insurance officers was considered outdated compared to actual requirements. For example, since 2008, the Vietnam Social Insurance Agency had to add the task of collecting, spending, managing and using the Unemployment Insurance Fund, requiring appraisal of medical examination and treatment costs at all medical examination facilities from the health station, commune and ward levels. In large cities and provinces with many subjects, officers in this sector often have to work at night, overtime, and are under great work pressure.

Meanwhile, the average salary in this sector is low, with little opportunity for income increase. For example, in 2010, the average salary of social insurance officers was 2.2 million VND/month, the average income was 3.9 million VND/month. In 2011, the salary increased to 2.7 million VND/month and the income was 4.8 million VND/month.

The staff in this sector have their income increased from the savings in management costs, but the budget allocated to Social Insurance is very limited. On average, if they strive to save annually, the average income of staff in this sector will only increase by 0.7 times, in some cases, the maximum increase will be 0.8 times the salary fund, but it is still unstable.

Due to low wages, between 2007 and 2011, 1,353 people left the industry.

According to Vietnamnet