As of December there were 6,787 part-time officials.

The People’s Committee, the executive agency, has sought approval from the People’s Council, the legislature, to let go 2,300 people working in various offices at ward, commune and district levels within the next month.

It follows a government’s decree on reducing the size of the bureaucracy under which HCMC has identified 2,300 surplus officials.

Part-time officials are those who are not assigned or appointed to fixed positions, and various agencies can draw on them depending on the amount of work they have.

The decree does not specify compensation payment for officials who are laid off, but the People’s Committee said part-time officials work just as hard as regular employees and hence should be compensated.

The city Department of Home Affairs said the decision would put considerable pressure on the city’s remaining workforce, especially in districts that are urbanizing quickly and have large populations.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had in 2017 called on government offices to reduce their staff size by 1.5-2 percent a year for the next five years.

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

Fresh hiring and setting up of new agencies should be avoided except in the healthcare and education sectors and should be done only on the basis of government decisions, he had warned.