In 2016, women and men of working age in Viet Nam made up 69.9 per cent of the population. In 2009 the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam launched a national Unemployment Insurance (UI) programme in order to offset risks for wage earners in the case of unemployment and provide support for capacity building and reemployment. UI legislation is administered by The Bureau of Employment under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) and Viet Nam Social Security, an agency reporting directly to the Prime Minister, is responsible for the collection of contributions and disbursement of benefits.
Viet Nam’s UI programme is a contributory insurance available to citizens working on contracts of at least three months in length. All employers in all sectors, regardless of business size, are obligated to participate in the scheme. Contributions for the scheme are shared by the employer, the employee and the government, each contributing one per cent of the beneficiary’s salary. In order to be eligible, the employee’s contract must have been terminated by the employer without a monthly pension or working capacity loss allowance. The claimant must have also paid insurance premiums within 24 months of being unemployed. Those in seasonal employment must have made 12 months of contributions within 36 months. Those eligible are entitled to a monthly unemployment allowance equivalent to 60 per cent of their average earnings within a 6 month period before unemployment and must not exceed five times the regional minimum wage. This monthly allowance can be collected for a period of 3 to 12 months depending on the duration of contributions. Viet Nam’s UI also provides claimants with access to apprenticeships for a period of no more than 6 months and free-of-charge employment placement consultancy. Claimants of the UI scheme are also entitled to access social health insurance during unemployment. By 2014 the scheme had 17 million contributors, accounting for approximately 17 per cent of the work force.
The UI programme is a result of the Social Insurance Law of 2006, which stipulated the provision of compulsory social insurance, voluntary social insurance and unemployment insurance. Since 2015 the UI scheme has undergone expansion through its implementation under the national Employment Law. While UI provides a good level of coverage to beneficiaries, the extent of coverage, specifically within the informal sector, could be increased through the further review of eligibility for short-term and seasonal workers. Nonetheless, the expanding UI programme makes significant contributions toward the building of a national social protection floor in Viet Nam.
Further Reading:
- Florence Bonnet, et. al. (2012). Analysis of the Viet Nam National Social Protection Strategy (2011-2020) in the context of the Social Protection Floor objectives: A rapid assessment. International Labour Office, Geneva.
- Ngo Thi Loan, (2016). Unemployment Insurance Viet Nam (2016) Challenges and Adjustments, Santiago, 19-20 October 2016. CEPAL. http://www.cepal.org/sites/default/files/events/files/ngo_loan.pdf