Vietnamese government officials and scholars, and their foreign peers discussed in Hanol on Thursday directions to improve Vietnam's social security system which is facing three challenges.

The challenges include high rate of employees having no labor relations, low income of residents which results in their small contribution to the system, and the unpopularity of their habit of partaking in social insurance, Vietnamese Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Hang said at an international workshop on the development of a social security system for human development in Vietnam.

"Now, Vietnam has 44 million employees, but only 11 million have labor relations, i.e. people having labor contracts and insurance policies. Many work in agriculture and small- and medium- sized enterprises," she noted.

The one-day workshop was jointly sponsored by the United Nations in Vietnam, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs on Thursday.

Delegates put forth major directions for the country's social security until 2015, including developing a comprehensive regulatory framework for social security, extending the coverage of social insurance, health insurance and social assistance, adjust pension policies in line with its economic development, and reducing poverty in a sustainable way in three aspects: production, social services and capacity building.

The Vietnamese government has recognized that over the medium term "Vietnam will need a modern, integrated approach to help people cope with risks to their livelihood and well-being, and to avoid falling back into poverty because of life events such as illness, disability, loss of employment, raising children and old age," UN Resident Coordinator John Hendra said, adding that such an integrated approach would "consider the combined impact of health, childcare, education, employment security and pension policies."

Social security is a system of mechanisms, policies, and measures by the state and the society for supporting members of the society in face of risks, socio-economic shocks which lead to the reduction or loss of income due to illness, maternity, occupational accidents and diseases, old age or other objective reasons.

Source: Xinhua