Salary increases must be linked to downsizing the workforce.

Salary policy reform must be linked to administrative reform, downsizing of personnel, and strict management of officials and civil servants.

Salary policies are one of the causes of the distorted image of officials and civil servants. The image of officials and civil servants as "servants" of the people is changing. Easily observable manifestations include harassment, bribery for positions and power, laziness, lack of dedication, group interests, indifference, and a failure to truly be "servants" of the people.

Looking at other countries, the reason they are able to limit harassment of citizens by public officials is because they have a strict legal system and are paid salaries commensurate with their job positions.

In our country, low wages are obvious to everyone. Everyone knows that wage reform is an urgent issue. However, every time we discuss wage increases and wage reform, the biggest obstacle is "Where will the money come from?".

Building a salary system is crucial, but it's not as difficult as addressing issues that transcend the salary system, or even lie outside the system itself, yet are decisive to the success or failure of salary system reform.

Illustrative image

According to Mr. Dang Nhu Loi, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs, as of the end of 2015, the number of people subject to the current salary regulations (excluding the armed forces) was approximately 2.727 million, including: State administrative agencies from the district level upwards: approximately 310,100 people; Party, Front and socio-political organizations from the district level upwards: approximately 86,400 people; Public service units: approximately 2.074 million people; Commune-level officials and civil servants: approximately 256,600 people. Provincial, district, and commune-level People's Council representatives receiving monthly allowances totaled 302,648 people.

In several interviews with VOV regarding salary issues, Mr. Dang Nhu Loi stated that only about 40% of civil servants and public employees work diligently, 30% simply follow orders, and the remaining 30% are "just going to work in the morning and coming home in the evening." Therefore, with 2.7 million people receiving salaries from the state budget, preliminary statistics show that up to 700,000 people are ineffective, wasting 17 trillion VND of the state budget each year.

According to Dr. Tran Xuan Cau, former Head of the Department of Economics and Resource Management at the National Economics University in Hanoi, downsizing the workforce should target these groups to free up resources for salary reform and salary increases for those who actually work. For a long time, we have been paying salaries based on a mindset of paying low salaries, showing sympathy, distributing salaries equally, paying whatever is available, and waiting for and depending on the budget, which is counterproductive. The state spends a lot of money but doesn't get results.

However, the current downsizing efforts are hitting a wall, as many of those who are incompetent are often "children and grandchildren of influential people, close acquaintances of leaders." Furthermore, when developing job position plans, many state agencies and units fail to determine the workload and the structure of civil servants according to professional qualifications, resulting in surpluses in some areas and shortages in others.

According to Mr. Cau's calculations, if we can streamline the number of civil servants who only "drink tea and chat," from now until 2018, we will need 300-400 trillion VND (15-18 billion USD) to bring the base salary close to the regional minimum wage. At that time: The salary of professors and senior lecturers at the highest level (8.00) will be 28 million VND/month. "This is an excellent plan," Mr. Cau said.

In reality, recent salary reforms have all resulted in a situation of "cutting the foot to fit the shoe." The initial plan was excellent and scientific, but ultimately, due to a lack of resources, they had to both reduce the increase in the minimum wage and narrow the gap in the salary coefficients compared to the original proposal.

To address the issue of funding for salary reform, experts suggest a shift in thinking about human resources and a change in perspective on investment and development, as well as accumulation and consumption. The State needs to allocate more resources to investing in human development, most directly to addressing the requirements of salary reform; even if this means reducing investment in infrastructure, especially projects that the private sector can undertake, it should still be done.

Mr. Tran Xuan Cau believes that the current wage policy is like an old, worn-out shirt that needs to be replaced quickly to change a person's appearance and to view them in a more positive light.

"It would be meaningless to reform the salary policy without linking it to administrative reform, downsizing the workforce, strengthening the management of officials, civil servants, and public employees... because then it would be like 'throwing salt into the sea'," said Mr. Tran Xuan Cau.

According to VOV