Towards a minimum living wage for sustainable development

Changing mindset, towards a living minimum wage

Dr. Pham Thu Lan, former Deputy Director of the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions (now the Institute of Strategy and Policy of the Front) said: A living wage, as defined by the International Labor Organization (ILO), is the lowest wage sufficient for workers and their families to cover basic necessary expenses, including: nutritious food, suitable housing, health care, education , transportation, social relations, and savings for the future. This concept has been around for 80 years, but when applied in Vietnam, it is understood as a minimum wage based on the poor and low-income groups.

Photo caption — The microchip and high-frequency system laboratory has a modern and synchronous equipment system that meets the requirements for research and design of high-frequency microchips. Photo: Thu Hoai/VNA

“The current concept of minimum wage only meets the minimum living standard but does not ensure 'enough to live'. With the current income and expenditure of workers, the calculation criteria are no longer suitable, because they are still based on the poor and low-income groups. Vietnam has legalized the minimum wage, but has not yet legalized a minimum living wage. When it becomes a middle-income country, it is necessary to shift from the mindset of 'minimum wage' to 'minimum living wage', that is, ensuring a suitable standard of living for workers and their families in a certain period. If it only stops at the minimum living standard, the country will hardly be able to make a breakthrough,” Dr. Pham Thu Lan suggested.

Dr. Pham Thu Lan proposed changing the mindset of minimum wage to a living minimum wage, because workers still have many needs for nutritious food, transportation, education, healthcare, savings, etc. At the same time, the draft Political Report submitted to the 14th National Party Congress needs to add the goal of implementing "living minimum wage" in the viewpoints and goals for national development in the period of 2026 - 2035; summarize 40 years of implementing wage policy to aim at ensuring a decent standard of living for workers. In addition, there needs to be a method for calculating living minimum wage in accordance with international standards.

Mr. Ngo Duy Hieu, Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, assessed that the minimum living wage is an issue that the trade union organization is concerned about and will research and propose to competent authorities in the coming time.

Development of science and technology

Commenting on the document submitted to the 14th National Party Congress, Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Van Hoa, former Vice President of the National Economics University, said: In the previous period, Vietnam's growth depended on industries using cheap labor. However, to achieve the target of an average income of 8,500 USD/person by 2023, there must be a breakthrough, in which development is based on science and technology, innovation. Lessons from China, South Korea, and Singapore on GDP growth continuously growing over 10% have in common that they all exploit the role of innovation, high-quality human resources, and build a creative culture in society...

Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Van Hoa shared the story of a garment enterprise that always promotes the culture of innovation, encourages garment workers to come up with initiatives and rewards them promptly, so that they always maintain stable growth. For example, a worker who specializes in sewing sleeves also thinks about how to sew faster, more beautifully, and increase productivity to talk about the lesson of innovation awareness from workers. Therefore, the trade union organization must be aware of and clearly demonstrate its role in the country's development goals.

Similarly, Associate Professor Dr. To The Nguyen, University of Economics, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, suggested that it is necessary to clearly state the role of total factor productivity (TFP) so that the growth target is clear, easy to understand, easy to do, easy to orient. To have a high-quality workforce, Vietnam must develop leading and core training institutions.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/xa-hoi/huong-toi-tien-luong-toi-thieu-du-song-de-phat-trien-ben-vung-20251105163801738.htm