Vietnam plans minimum wage hike in October

Vietnam is expected to raise minimum salary for people working in the state sector by either 15 percent or 20 percent in October, local newspaper Labor reported Friday.

Under a two-suggestion plan to be submitted to the government by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs next month, the monthly minimum salary will increase either 15 percent to 518, 000 Vietnamese dong (VND) (32.4 U.S. dollars) or 20 percent to 540, 000 VND (nearly 33.8 dollars) from the current 450,000 VND (21.9 dollars).

If the government approves one of the two suggestions, the new salary will be applied on Oct. 1, the newspaper said.

By early 2006, Vietnam had more than 4.1 million people working in state-owned sectors, mostly in the fields of education and training, processing industry and construction.

Source: Xinhua