Little cheer in Tet bonus

>>Anger over Tet bonuses leads to strikes in FIEs

Increased salary and Tet bonus at many foreign enterprises has been counterbalanced by soaring consumer goods prices.

Hanoi’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs reported that the average salary of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in the city in 2010 was VND2.9 million ($148) per month, up 30 per cent against 2009.

These enterprises’ average Tet bonus is VND4.2 million ($216) per person, with the highest bonus of VND72.7 million ($3,700) and the lowest bonus of VND500,000 ($26). Tet is the national lunar new year celebration, to take place in early February.

“Such a bonus is a remarkable increase compared to last year,” said the department’s vice director Nguyen The Hung.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the average salary of FIEs outside the city’s export processing zones and industrial parks in 2010 was VND3.8 million ($195), up 11 per cent against 2009.

Those FIEs’ average bonus for Tet is over VND3 million ($154), up 9 per cent against the previous year. The highest and lowest bonus levels are over VND532 million ($27,000) and VND1.55 million ($79), up 68 and 2 per cent, respectively, on-year.

As for FIEs within Ho Chi Minh City’s export processing zones and industrial parks, 111 enterprises reported an average salary of VND2 million ($103) per month, higher than the government’s minimum salary of VND1.5 million ($77) for FIEs in urban areas, effective from January 1, 2011.

These enterprises’ highest and lowest Tet bonus levels are VND120 million ($6,200) and VND1.2 million, respectively.

Hung said most enterprises had maintained their growth in 2010 and augmented salaries and Tet bonuses for workers.

“However, the augmentation of market prices means that the increased salary and Tet bonus levels are negligible. Workers’ lives remain difficult,” he said.

According to Vietnam General Statistics Office, inflation for 2010 raced to a double-digit figure of 11.75 per cent, driven mostly by food and foodstuffs (up 10.71 per cent against 2009) and housing costs (up 14.68 per cent). Meanwhile, 2009’s CPI rise was 6.88 per cent.

“It is expected that the CPI will continue increasing in 2011’s January and February when the public preparations for Tet are made,” Hung said.

Nguyen Xuan Tien, a Volkswagen salesman in Hanoi, said his monthly salary was VND3 million ($154) and his Tet bonus this year was similar to  2009 at VND3 million ($154).

“The salary is always running after the speedy inflation rate. I have to tighten my belt. If only it could be increased,” Tien said.

Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, head of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs, said that in the current situation of low salaries and worker shortages, businesses should share their profits with their employees in an appropriate manner to keep them at work stably.

Huong said that enterprises might lose their workers after Tet if they offered them too low Tet bonus, while their profits were big. Enterprises would then have to spend a huge sum recruiting and training new employees.