Regional minimum wage may increase in 2024: official, Illustrative image (Photo: thanhnien.vn)

Hanoi - Members of the National Wage Council agreed to propose increasing the regional minimum wage in 2024 at the council’s first meeting in 2023 on August 9.

However, the increase rate and timing will be based on information and data collected at the end of this year for consideration and assessment at the second meeting scheduled to take place in late November, said Le Dinh Quang, member of the council.

Vice Chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) Ngo Duy Hieu said that the VGCL acknowledged difficulties of businesses. However, employees are vulnerable and currently facing a lot of difficulties.

The wage increase helps not only motivate them to work with high productivity and good quality, but also ensure they can maintain minimum standards of living, added Hieu.

According to a survey by the VGCL Institute of Workers and Trade Unions, most of the current income of workers does not meet their expenditures, and in some cases, it only meets 45 per cent of demand.

The survey, which was conducted on 3,000 workers and 157 businesses in six provinces and cities before the first round of regional minimum wage negotiations in 2024, showed that 52.3 per cent of employees work overtime with an average time of 1.75 hours per day.