That would leave 247,344 workers in state agencies and administrative organizations, and the rest in diplomatic missions abroad, associations and civil service reserves.

The PM had in 2017 instructed government offices to pare their payroll by 1.5-2 percent a year for the next five years.

Central and local agencies should make sure that only key employees are retained, he said.

There should be no fresh hiring or setting up of new agencies except in the healthcare and education sectors, and they should be based on government decisions, he said.

The government payroll was cut from 265,100 in 2018 to 259,598 last year and 253,000 this year.

In June lawmakers decided to defer the 7.4 percent wage hike for government staff scheduled for July as Covid-19 placed huge demands on funds.

They told the government to set a new date for the hike depending on the situation.

The monthly base salaries of public employees is set to go up from VND1.49 million ($64) to VND1.6 million ($69).