Changing the way pensions are calculated puts female workers at a disadvantage.

From January 1, 2018, many female workers retiring in 2018 will receive a much lower pension than those with the same social insurance contribution period retiring in 2017.

According to the Social Insurance Law 2014, from January 1, 2018, many female workers retiring in 2018 will receive a much lower pension than those with the same social insurance contribution period retiring in 2017 (up to 10%). This change has made many female workers worried and upset.

From January 1, 2018, retired female workers with less than 30 years of work experience will be disadvantaged due to changes in pension calculation methods.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen in Thanh Xuan district said that she will close her social insurance book and receive pension benefits when she turns 55 on January 15, 2018. Recently, the agency sent a notice about her retirement after nearly 25 years of work. According to the new regulations, she will only receive 65% of her salary. Meanwhile, if her social insurance book is closed in 2017, she can receive a pension of up to 75%.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen shared: “When 10% is deducted, each month I lose several hundred thousand. For me, these several hundred thousand also solve many problems. The older I get, the weaker my health becomes, I have to take medicine when I get sick and have to spend on many things. If I am deducted like that, my life will be very difficult, especially for retirees who do not have a side job. Therefore, I also hope and request the State to re-examine, because life is developing like that but leaving retirees, especially female workers, at a disadvantage…”.

According to Clause 2, Article 56 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, from January 1, 2018, Vietnam Social Insurance will begin to apply a roadmap to change the way pension rates are calculated. Specifically, male workers will be calculated at 45% of the average monthly salary or monthly income for social insurance contributions, when they have paid social insurance for 16 years and retired in 2018, 17 years and retired in 2019, 18 years and retired in 2020, 19 years and retired in 2021, 20 years and retired from 2022 onwards.

For female workers retiring from 2018 onwards, 15 years of social insurance contributions are calculated at 45% of the average monthly salary for social insurance contributions. After the above period, for each additional year of social insurance contributions, workers (both male and female) will be calculated an additional 2%. (Before 2018, for each additional year of social insurance contributions after reaching the rate of 45%, female workers were calculated an additional 3%).

With this change in calculation, female workers who are 55 years old and retire from 2018 onwards must have 30 years of social insurance contributions to receive the maximum rate of 75% (compared to before 2018, only 25 years of social insurance contributions were required to receive the maximum rate of 75%). Thus, after January 1, 2018, female workers who retire and have paid 25 years of social insurance contributions will only receive 65% of their monthly salary for social insurance contributions.

Ms. Tran Kim Yen, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation, said that this calculation method will be disadvantageous for female workers, especially if it is applied without a roadmap, it will shock workers. This is also one of the reasons why the current situation of workers massively receiving one-time social insurance payments is happening.

Ms. Tran Kim Yen added: “In many cases, female workers reach retirement age but do not have enough years of social insurance contributions due to joining the labor force and paying social insurance late, so even if they want to extend their working time to have enough time to pay social insurance, they will not be able to do so. I find this very inappropriate. For male workers with a roadmap from 2018 to 2023, this should also be done for women with the same roadmap as men, this will reduce the disadvantages for female workers.”

According to Vietnam Social Security, it is forecasted that in 2018 there will be about 50,000 female workers retiring, of which over 21,000 will have paid social insurance for less than 30 years, with a pension rate of 5% to 10% lower.

Mr. Bui Sy Loi, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs, also analyzed that, in principle, women must pay social insurance for 30 years to receive 75% of their basic salary, which is completely correct. However, there is an "incongruity" when, after just one night, from December 31, 2017 to January 1, 2018, women with the same number of working years of 25 years, only differed by one day, and lost 10% of their salary. Obviously, this is not beneficial, and even unfair, for many women.

Mr. Bui Sy Loi also said that he has repeatedly recommended that relevant agencies and the Government study and implement a roadmap for women similar to that for men, to "reduce the shock" gradually, avoiding women feeling disappointed and disadvantaged.

Mr. Bui Sy Loi said: “This is worth studying so that we can extend the roadmap for women to reduce stress, but I have not seen any agency propose it. I have suggested that the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs study it and report it to the Government for proposal. If this is proposed, I think the National Assembly Standing Committee should report to the National Assembly to issue a Resolution or have a roadmap for us to extend it to ensure pensions.

But if we want to propose, we have to do research and comprehensive assessment to see how many people are affected, and whether there is any impact at all? I think that most women who retire now are not just 25 years old, there are many who are 30 years old, 35 years old, those people do not have much impact. If the situation is that many people fall into 25 years old, we should make adjustments.

There are only 2 months left before the new social insurance regulations take effect. During the policy transition period, workers have no choice but to accept this reality. To overcome the above shortcomings, many opinions suggest that it is necessary to review and amend Article 56 and Article 74 of the Social Insurance Law 2014 in the direction of adjusting the calculation of female pension rates according to a gradual roadmap, achieving the goal of gender equality and limiting shocks for female workers due to policy changes./.

According to VOV