Vietnam Social Security Organisation has expressed confidence that its unemployment insurance fund is in surplus of around VND63tn ($2.6bn) and is sufficient to provide the intended benefits to public employees and workers affected by organisational restructuring exercise.
Vietnam government’s Social Affairs Committee chair Nguyen Thuy Anh has said that in the draft law there are no provisions to address unemployment arising from restructuring government agencies.
During a session of the country’s National Assembly Standing Committee the draft of the amended employment law was examined. The amendment seeks to address the impact of political system streamlining on the unemployment insurance fund.
This adjustment is necessary due to potential reductions in contributors to the fund and increases in beneficiaries. Thuy Anh proposed adding principles and authorising the Government to ensure fund stability during organizational changes.
During the discussion National Assembly vice chair Nguyen Thi Thanh brought up concerns about the potential impact of restructuring on unemployment insurance, noting that approximately 100,000 public employees will be affected.
Under Decree 178, public employees who lose their jobs due to restructuring and do not qualify for pensions are eligible for unemployment insurance benefits, including unemployment allowances and vocational training support.
In 2023, more than 1.049m people received unemployment benefits, with 99.3% of payouts processed via personal bank accounts. The centralised nature of unemployment benefit distribution remains unaffected by administrative boundaries, ensuring smooth disbursements even under a restructured model.
The draft law defines unemployment insurance as a mandatory mechanism supporting workers through job retention, training, counselling, job placement and partial income replacement in case of job loss.
Monthly allowance at 60% of the average monthly salary is used as the insurance contribution base for the six months prior to unemployment. The allowance is capped at five times the regional minimum wage. Workers qualify for three months of benefits after contributing for 12-36 months. For every additional 12 months of contributions, one more month of benefits is granted, up to a maximum of 12 months. Workers receiving unemployment benefits are also entitled to health insurance contributions from the unemployment insurance fund, even during suspension periods.