"The minimum wage is still insufficient to meet the cost of living."

On the morning of October 25th, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor announced the Research Report on Minimum Wage and Minimum Living Standard for Workers in the Enterprise Sector, conducted by the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions.

Sadly, this report has shown that the increase in the minimum wage has not met the minimum living standards of workers.

According to the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions, the consolidated minimum wage adjustment for FDI and domestic enterprises only reaches 65% of the minimum living standard for workers.

Dr. Dang Quang Dieu, Director of the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions, stated that minimum wage increases must be scientifically calculated based on the actual cost of living for workers and prices at their workplaces. Calculating using general indicators like CPI and GDP, as is currently done, will not fully reflect the real living conditions of workers.

In reality, the current compensation provided by businesses to their employees does not meet the minimum living standard. Even the recently enacted increase in the minimum wage fails to meet this requirement.

Specifically, according to a survey by the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions, the minimum living standard is composed of three groups of factors: food and beverages, non-food items, and the need to raise children.

According to a survey conducted from April 2011 to October 2011 in Hanoi (Region I), a diet meeting a daily requirement of 2,300 kilocalories (including rice, meat or eggs, vegetables, bananas, lard, fish sauce, salt, water, and gas) would cost workers 35,300 VND per day. Therefore, food alone would cost workers at least 1,059,000 VND per month.

The research results also indicate that the cost of meeting the minimum living standard for workers in Region IV is nearly 1.5 million VND/person/month, Region III is nearly 1.9 million VND/person/month, Region II is approximately 2.2 million VND/person/month, and Region I is over 2.42 million VND/person/month.

Meanwhile, according to a government decision, from October 2011, the general minimum wage is set at 830,000 VND/month. For domestic and foreign-invested enterprises (FDI), the minimum wage will be adjusted uniformly as follows: Region I: 2 million VND, Region II: 1.78 million VND, Region III: 1.55 million VND, Region IV: 1.4 million VND.

Thus, the current minimum wage still falls short of the minimum wage that meets a minimum standard of living.

(According to Vietnam+)