Salary policy, Vietnamese official and public employee effective from mid-January 2018

1. Regional Minimum Wage in 2018

Decree 141/2017/ND-CP regulates the regional minimum wage applicable to laborers working under labor contracts, approved by the Government of Vietnam on December 7, 2017, replacing Decree 153/2016/ND-CP.

The regional minimum wage in 2018 is specified as follows:

- Region I: 3,980,000 VND/month (increased by 230,000 VND);- Region II: 3,530,000 VND/month (increased by 210,000 VND);- Region III: 3,090,000 VND/month (increased by 190,000 VND);- Region IV: 2,760,000 VND/month (increased by 180,000 VND).

Simultaneously, the areas applying the new regional minimum wage have some changes.

See details in Decree 141/2017/ND-CP, which comes into effect from January 25, 2018. The regional minimum wage is applied from January 1, 2018.

2. Increase Revenue to Adjust the Statutory Pay Rate to 1.39 Million VND/Month

This content is mentioned in Circular 132/2017/TT-BTC regulating the organization and implementation of the state budget estimate for 2018, issued by the Minister of Finance on December 15, 2017.

To ensure the implementation of salary policies and allowances in 2018, the Ministry of Finance regulates:

- Ministries and central agencies proactively arrange expenditure tasks associated with organizational restructuring, streamlining the workforce, and increasing revenue sources as prescribed to allocate resources for adjusting the statutory pay rate:- 1.3 million VND/month from January 1, 2018, to June 30, 2018, and;- 1.39 million VND/month from July 1, 2018.- The People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities, when allocating the budget to lower-level units, must save 10% of regular expenditure in 2018 (excluding salary-related expenses) to create a source for wage reform, ensuring it is not lower than the level assigned by the Ministry of Finance.

Circular 132/2017/TT-BTC comes into effect from January 29, 2018, and applies to the 2018 budget year.

3. Exceptional Exams for Outstanding Graduates

This is one of the notable policies from the Government of Vietnam in Decree 140/2017/ND-CP aimed at attracting and sourcing personnel from outstanding graduates and young scientists.

Outstanding graduates and young scientists, after being recruited, will be exceptionally allowed to take exams for promotion to main specialists or equivalent positions if they meet the following conditions:

- Performance rating: Good or excellent for three consecutive years from the date of recruitment;- For young scientists with a master's degree, specialized physician level I, resident physician, or specialized pharmacist level I, they must also have at least one scientific topic published in a reputable specialized scientific journal.- For young scientists with a doctoral degree, specialized physician level II, or specialized pharmacist level II, they must also have at least one scientific research work published in a regional or international specialized scientific journal.

Decree 140/2017/ND-CP comes into effect from January 20, 2018.

4. Regulations on Promotion Exams for Preschool and Primary School Teachers

Circular 28/2017/TT-BGDDT regulates the standards, conditions, content, and forms of promotion exams for the professional titles of public preschool and elementary school teachers.

Preschool and elementary school teachers are considered for professional title promotion as follows:

- Promotion from class IV teacher to class III teacher: Through review and scoring of dossiers according to the class III teacher standards of each educational level;- Promotion from class III teacher to class II teacher: Through review, scoring of dossiers, and examination according to the class II teacher standards of each educational level.- For preschool and elementary school teachers of class III being promoted to class II, if their dossiers score 100 points, they will be eligible for examination.

The examination is conducted in the form of a survey or interview.

Promotion dossiers are implemented according to the provisions of Article 10 of Circular 12/2012/TT-BNV.

Circular 28/2017/TT-BGDDT comes into effect from January 15, 2018.

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