LookAtVietnam – Minimum salaries for labourers will increase VND80,000-180,000 (US$4.5-10) per month from January 1, 2010.

Minimum salaries for labourers will increase VND80,000-180,000 per month.

The four regions will be distinguished based on their economic growth targets, consumer price index, poverty level, average expenditure per capita, scales of enterprises and average salary level.

Tong Thi Minh, head of the Labour and Salary Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, explained that labourers working in domestic and foreign enterprises in the first category (which includes inner districts of Ha Noi and HCM City) would have the highest minimum monthly salary, VND980,000 ($55) and VND1.34 million ($75) respectively.

Minh noted that the second category would include the rest of Ha Noi and HCM City, and provinces and cities with key economic zones such as Hai Phong, Can Tho, Da Nang, Quang Ninh, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and so on.

Minimum salary will be VND880,000 ($48) for labourers working in domestic enterprises in this region, and VND1.19 million ($66) for those in regional foreign enterprises, she said.

Labourers working in domestic enterprises in the third and fourth categories, which have lower growth rate and targets, will have a minimum salary of VND810,000 ($45) and VND730,000 ($40) respectively.

Minimum salary for workers of foreign enterprises in these regions will be VND1.04 million ($57) for the third region and VND1 million ($55) for the fourth region.

“To increase the minimum salary of labourers working in domestic and foreign enterprises at the same time is to ensure their rights and benefits in the context that they might get paid less due to the current economic slowdown,” Minh said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News