Salaries for civil servants: Do they need to be completely reformed?

From July 1st, the basic salary of state officials, civil servants, and public employees will officially be adjusted upwards. In recent years, salary increases have become a burden on the budget as the total state budget expenditure on salaries is increasingly ballooning, leaving insufficient funds for development investment.

The issue of wages is always a hot topic because it affects the lives of millions of families and millions of salaried workers in the public sector; and this sector also has a significant influence on the development of the administrative management system and the formulation of socio-economic development policies.

Currently, too many types of allowances exist, accounting for a high percentage of salaries and distorting the true nature of wages. Many people receive allowances that exceed their salaries. This situation leads to a lack of transparency in the salary and income system for officials and civil servants.

Because job positions are not clearly defined, it leads to a "one-size-fits-all" salary system, and salary increases are given to those who don't deserve them; periodic salary increases also create additional difficulties for the budget.

A clear example is that many capable young officials are promoted to important leadership positions. However, because of their shorter service, their salaries will inevitably be lower than those of their subordinates, even if they receive position allowances.

The general minimum wage (basic salary) applied to civil servants and public employees is no longer appropriate. It's time for salaries to be paid according to specific job positions. In reality, there are positions that involve very complex, difficult, and important work, yet the salaries are low, sometimes even equivalent to those of someone who simply goes to work and comes home empty-handed.

Not to mention, the current salary calculation system based on coefficients and a hierarchical scale for principal specialists, senior specialists, and regular specialists still has many shortcomings. In reality, there are jobs that don't require a university degree but are still performed by principal specialists, or even senior specialists. This causes enormous waste and unfairness among members of an agency or unit.

The current salary system is not based on work performance or regular salary increases, leading to a situation where people "work for free but earn a lot," "seniority breeds seniority," and higher salaries for long-term employees. Because there is no accurate and transparent measure of work performance, it is impossible to streamline the system of state-funded agencies. This is also the reason why reforming the management system and improving its operational quality becomes more difficult, even stagnant.

Everyone acknowledges that the current salary scale system is still designed to be based on averages and a leveling effect, failing to truly motivate employees to improve their work efficiency and not being appropriate for job positions, titles, and leadership roles. With the current salary system, we are facing a situation where we lack the funds to adequately pay talented and capable individuals while unfairly paying salaries to incompetent ones.

Therefore, restructuring the method of calculating salaries for officials, civil servants, and public employees is necessary, even though it is known to be very difficult.