Vietnam is facing many challenges in implementing a roadmap on raisingminimum wage to cover basic needs of labourers by 2017, said DeputyMinister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) Pham Minh Huan.

Many enterprises have proposed postponing thetarget date to 2020 due to economic difficulties, the deputy ministersaid at a conference jointly held by MOLISA and the International LabourOrganisation (ILO) in Hanoi on November 26.

Sandra Polaski, ILO Deputy Director-General, reiterated the significanceof minimum wage to productivity. She cited a recent research showingthat along with raising wage for their employees, employers will try toinvest more in technology to improve productivity.

Wage is an important index reflecting fairness in society, she said,adding that the ILO wage report for 2014-15 will announce new findingsof a study on the relations between the sharing of wage and generalincome inequality.

At the same time, Dang QuangDieu, head of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour’s Policyand Law Department, said only when minimum wage is sufficient for basicliving conditions, could labour productivity be enhanced.

He noted that the current minimum wage, the basis for enterprises tocalculate wage for workers, fails to cover minimum living costs, whilethe wage gap among different sectors tends to increase.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Manh Cuong, Director of the MOLISA’s Centre forLabour Relations Development Support, said as Vietnam joins theASEAN Economic Community and international trade deals, competition inlabour market in the community will increase, thus raising wage andsalary for improving competitiveness will be inevitable.

Many participants at the conference suggested the building of a stableroadmap for wage increase, while strengthening social welfare toharmonise the rights and interests for both enterprises and labourers.-VNA