From 2019, base salary and minimum salary will be remarkably raised. Accordingly, millions of people will benefit from these crucial payroll amendments.

The Government just promulgated Decree no 157/2018/ND-CP regulating minimum salary for contractual employees.

Regulated subjects are as follow:

          - Contractual employees as prescribed in Labor Code.

          - Enterprises established, organized and operated as prescribed in Law on Enterprises.

      - Cooperatives, cooperative alliances, cooperative groups, farms, households, individuals and other Vietnamese organizations hiring contractual employees.

       - Foreign agencies, organzations, international organizations and foreign individuals in Vietnam hiring contractual employees ( except for the international treaties of which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is member having different regulations from this Decree).

New regulations on minimum salary applied to employees working in enterprises are as follows:

          - VND 4,180,000/month, applied to enterprises operating in area I;

          - VND 3,710,000/month, applied to enterprises operating in area II;

          - VND 3,250,000/month, applied to enterprises operating in area III;

          - VND 2,920,000/month, applied to enterprises operating in area IV.

The applicable minimum salary areas are prescribed according to the administrative units.

Thus, the new minimum salary is higher than the current one by about VND 160,000-200,000/month.

Also in Resolution 70/2018/QH14 on the State budget estimate for 2019, the National Assembly assigned the Government to adjust the base salary (from VND 1.39 million/month to VND 1.49 million/month), and to raise pensions, social insurance benefits, monthly benefits according to the regulations (subjects guaranteed by the state budget) and preferential subsidies for people with meritorious services to the revolution equal to the rise of the base salary, time of effect from July 1^st, 2019.

This base salary will be used as a basis for calculating salary in payroll, allowance level and other regimes as prescribed in law.

Technical and professional payrolls for officials in State agencies from July 1^st, 2019 are also compatible with the new regulations. According to statistics, the base salary increase will have the salary of officials of all levels and groups raised by VND 200,000-800,000 depending on the coefficient.

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