Today's task

(Baonghean) - In the future, millions of workers will reach retirement age without pension income, and this burden will fall on the State. This information doesn't surprise many people. Those who already know for sure they won't be eligible for this "retirement" benefit are even less likely to be so. They all continue living as usual!

Why is there such indifference? First, we must acknowledge the reality that the concept of social insurance is still very unfamiliar to the majority of our population. Except for those who receive monthly salaries, almost no one knows or cares about this field. This is because, for thousands of years, our people have been accustomed to a self-reliant way of life, following the motto "children rely on their parents, the elderly rely on their children." In childhood, they depend on their parents. As adults, they take care of themselves and their children. In old age, when they can no longer work, they rely on their children, relatives, or neighbors. They support, nurture, and care for each other until the end of their lives. No one ever thinks about relying on the State.

The feudal and colonial states of the past did not worry about such matters for their people. Our government today does consider this, but for various reasons, it has only been implementing social insurance in its true sense for about twenty years.

Twenty years is a long time in a person's life. However, compared to lifestyles and ways of thinking that have existed for thousands of years, it hasn't had much impact. Moreover, social insurance is currently limited to salaried workers in state agencies or state-owned and private companies and enterprises. And those working in social insurance are mostly desk-bound, in air-conditioned offices, processing applications and receiving submissions, rather than truly engaging with people's lives. Therefore, out of over 90 million people in Vietnam, more than 80 million do not have pensions. Even among those who do receive pensions, how many are truly comfortable living on their pensions? So, adding more people to the system wouldn't really attract much attention or concern... The majority of people remain indifferent to social insurance, focusing instead on work, production, business, and supplementary jobs to save money for old age and infirmity, rather than relying on social insurance.

This lifestyle trend exists not only among the general public but also among those working in the social insurance sector. Therefore, a few years ago, warnings were issued about the risk of the social insurance fund collapsing, and now the alarm is being sounded again: "millions of people will be without pensions." However, the issue has only been discussed in a few seminars, some comments in the press, or on social forums. A few lamenting or cautionary remarks from some representatives of the people have been added. Otherwise, no action has been taken to address the risk, except for one disappointing move: restructuring the pension calculation method to reduce the burden on the social insurance fund. This means that few people are truly concerned about resolving this risk. Meanwhile, workers continue to live as they have for generations, focusing primarily on self-preservation without caring about whether or not they have a pension. Furthermore, the use of money contributed to the social insurance fund is sometimes unclear and lacking transparency. Even being cheated, misappropriated, or defrauded further alienates people from social insurance.

Millions of workers will reach retirement age without pension income – this is a future reality, but it needs to be addressed promptly and effectively starting today. The most effective solution lies in building strong and unwavering public trust in the social insurance fund through concrete actions, initiatives, and practical programs that encourage voluntary and enthusiastic contributions. It shouldn't just be about issuing warnings at conferences and seminars, then shifting blame partly to workers, partly to employers, and partly to management agencies, and proposing a few solutions without taking action. "Money is vital," and without building trust, there's no hope of improving the situation. Building public trust in the social insurance fund is the immediate priority.

Duy Huong