No bonus point

Customers pay for goods at a grocery store in Hanoi. Although bonuses for this Tet are higher, workers are struggling with price hikes.

Riding on improved production and trade, businesses in general have promised higher bonuses for the upcoming Tet holiday than last year, but experts say their value could actually be lower due to soaring consumer prices.

Ho Le Hung, deputy general director of the Hanoi Garment Joint Stock Company, said: “We have not yet calculated the exact bonus amount but it will surely be higher than last year. Our business this year is better, so we want to encourage the working spirit of our employees.”

In addition to the bonus, employees will also receive allowances and gifts, he said.

Doan Minh Dung, director of the confectionery producer Hai Ha Kotobuki, said his firm’s workers could get bonuses of VND7-10 million ($333-476) each for this Tet, the Lunar New Year festival which falls in early February.

“The bonus is equal to two months’ salary. We will also offer employees some confectionery as gifts,” he said.

Dung said his company has increased Tet bonus funds for more than 300 laborers by some 20 percent over last year. “Prices have escalated recently. We are trying to increase bonuses for employees, so that they are not at a disadvantage.”

According to reports from labor departments, the average bonus for this Tet is higher than in previous years.

The Hanoi Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs has announced Tet bonus plans prepared by firms in the city, with the highest of VND72.9 million ($3,471) paid by a joint stock company, and the lowest of VND200,000 ($9.5) by a state-owned firm.

In the city, Tet bonuses at state-owned enterprises range from VND200,000 and VND40 million with an average of VND3.5 million. In the foreign-invested sector, the average bonus is estimated at VND4.2 million, with individual bonuses ranging between VND500,000 and VND72.7 million.

Last Tet, the average bonus paid by foreign-invested firms and state-owned ones were VND3.36 million and VND1.86 million respectively.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said it had received Tet bonus reports from 1,140 firms, with the biggest bonus a whopping VND532 million ($27,290) and the smallest, VND900,000 ($46).

Tet bonuses at 909 firms outside industrial parks and processing zones range from VND1.5 million and VND532 million with an average of VND2.7 million. Meanwhile, 231 firms in the industrial parks and processing zones are giving out bonuses ranging between VND900,000 and VND376 million. Their average bonus is VND 1.9 million.

The highest bonuses are being offered by electronics, milk processing, plastic production, real estate and gold trading businesses. Small and medium companies including footwear, garments, textiles and security service companies are on the lower end of the scale.

Nullified

“Bonus for this Tet is higher, but workers are facing many difficulties due to the increased prices,” said Nguyen Thi Chau Long, head of the Hanoi Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

Vietnam’s inflation rate escalated to its highest in 22 months, as prices increased 11.75 percent in December from a year earlier, according to the General Statistics Office.

Many experts have predicted that the prices of most commodities, especially food items, would continue to increase in the coming months as consumption rises during the festival season.

The increased consumer prices would hurt low-income workers the most.

Tong Thi Minh, head of the Department of the Labor and Wages under the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, said: “Despite higher bonuses, the quality of laborers’ lives has actually declined due to high inflation.”

Nguyen Thu Huong, a worker at a woodwork firm in Quang Minh industrial park in Hanoi, said she expected to receive a Tet bonus of VND5 million, a month’s salary. Last year, the bonus was just VND4 million.

“The bonus increase is not much compared to the price hike. Prices of many goods have doubled since early 2010, so our bonuses are actually lower,” she said.