CHÍNH SÁCH TIỀN LƯƠNG đối với CÔNG CHỨC cấp xã ở VIỆT NAM TT TIENG ANH

Minimum salary, salary scale, salary payment method, allowance regimes and management mechanism of salary and income of cadres, civil servants are important contents of salary policy, wh

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

PHAM THI THU THUY

THE SALARY POLICY FOR COMMUNE-LEVEL

CIVIL SERVANTS IN VIETNAM

Field of study: Public Management Code: 9 34 04 03

SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS

HA NOI, 2021

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Instructors: 1 Assoc Prof Dr Le Chi Mai

2 Dr Nguyen Tien Dinh

Reviewer 1:

Reviewer 2:

Reviewer 3:

The thesis will be defended in front of the Thesis Committee at Academy Level

Location: Doctoral thesis defense room - Meeting room … floor

… National Academy of Public Administration No.77, Nguyen Chi Thanh Road, Dong Da District, Ha Noi

Time: at… hour … date … month … year…

The thesis can be found at:

- Vietnam National Library

- Library of the National Academy of Public Administration

PREAMBLE

1 The urgency of the topic

Salary policy always plays an important role in the country's socio-economic policy system, is a driving force in developing economy, improves the effectiveness of state management, and uses labor resources effectively and each person’s working ability Minimum salary, salary scale, salary payment method, allowance regimes and management mechanism of salary and income of cadres, civil servants are important contents of salary policy, which is the basis to legalize, protect the interests of them and reflect the socio-economic development speed and common living standards of each country at the same time

The issue of salary reform for civil servants was determined

by the Party and State since the 7th Congress (1991) and discussed at the next congresses, especially the 7th Resolution of the VIII Session (in 1999) identified the viewpoints and principles for settling salary and incomes of cadres, civil servants and employees in the transition process: "paying the right salary to employees is an investment in development" Implementing this policy, in the Master Program on State Administration Reform (2001-2010), the Government has oriented salary reform from the point of view: Considering salary as

an investment form for people, investment for socio-economic development, contributing to improving the quality of cadres and civil servants and public service activities Simultaneously, the Government identified salary reform as one of the nine specific objectives in the PAR Program (2001-2010) with the following requirements: basic reform of civil servants' salary, ensuring reinvestment of working strength, raising family and have savings This is really an important goal, contributing to improving the labor competitiveness among the public sector, the private sector and the foreign-invested sector in the socialist-oriented market economy and international intergration

In the cadres and civil servants system, commune-level cadres and civil servants account for a large number (about over 25%

of the total number of cadres and civil servants) They have their own particular characteristics besides the characteristics of cadres and civil servants in general Therefore, the issue of basic reform of salaries for cadres and civil servants in general, and commune-level cadres and civil servants in particular at present and in the coming period is posing as a challenge and an urgent requirement, to find strong, breakthrough and feasible solutions Aware of the importance and urgent significance of perfecting the salary policy of commune-level civil servants in our country in the new period, I chose the topic: "The salary policy for commune-level civil servants in Vietnam” as a doctoral thesis

2 Research purpose and mission

2.1 Research purpose

Base on theory, analysis and assessment of the current situation of the salary policy of commune-level civil servants in Vietnam, the thesis proposes possible solutions and appropriate steps to perfect the salary policy for commune-level civil servants in the upcoming time

2.2 Research

The thesis will focus on researching and solving basic theoretical and practical problems for the reform of salary for commune-level cadres and civil servants in our country, including: (1) Theoretical basis of salary policy for commune-level civil servants in Vietnam in the new period; (2) Summarizing and evaluating the process of reforming the salary policy for cadres and civil servants in general and the salary policy for commune-level cadres and civil servants in particular; (3) Analysing and assessing the current status of salaries and incomes of Vietnamese commune-level cadres and civil servants; (4) Summarizing the experience of reforming civil servants' salaries of some countries in the world and lesson for Vietnam; (5) Proposing perspectives and solutions to reform salary policy for Vietnamese commune-level cadres and civil servants in the new development period

3 Object and scope of the research

3.1 Object of the research

The salary policy for commune-level civil servants in Vietnam

3.2 Scope of the research

* Content: Evaluating the salary policy for commune-level civil

servants and proposing solutions to improve that policy

* Places: Communes in the provinces of our country

* Time: Research on salary policy through salary reform 1986, 1993,

2004 and data on salary and income of commune-level civil servants, data on commune-level cadres and civil servants in the period from

4.2 Research methods

The PhD student used a number of specific research methods as follows:

- Document research method;

- Statistical and analytical method;

- Comparative and synthetic method;

- Sociological survey method;

- Predictive research method

5 Research questions and scientific hypothesis

Question 2: What factors affect the current salary policy of commune-level civil servants?

Question 3: What solutions are needed to improve the salary

policy of commune-level civil servants in the current context?

6 Attributions of the research

6.1 Theoretical aspect

Systematizing the theories on salary, salary policy, salary reform of state civil servants is to get a scientific basis for the orientation of reforming salary for commune-level cadres and civil servants in our country in the current period; and build scientific foundations, new thinking and new approaches for completing the salary policy for commune-level civil servants in Vietnam in the coming time

6.2 Practical aspect

- Analysing, evaluating the current situation of the salary policy for commune-level civil servants, specifying the positive and negative aspects of the current policy is a basis for proposing solutions to improve the policy

- Assessing the current salary situation of commune-level cadres and civil servants in recent years

- Proposing viewpoints and solutions to improve salary policy for commune-level civil servants in Vietnam in the coming period

7 Scientific and practical significance of the thesis topic

- The research results of the topic have added significance to the scientific theory of public management, public policy, specifically the theoretical issues of salary policy of communal civil servants

- The research results can be used as references in research and teaching on public management science in general and the salary policy of commune-level civil servants in particular

- Solutions and scientific conclusions of the thesis can be used

as useful references in perfecting the salary policy of commune-level civil servants in Vietnam in the coming time

8 Structure of the thesis

The thesis consists of introduction, content (4 chapters), conclusion, list of references, appendices

CHAPTER 1 THE OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH SITUATION

1.1 The research overview on salary and salary policy of foreign civil servants

Up to now, there have been many researches on salary in general and salary for commune-level cadres and civil servants, which can be divided into the following groups:

- Researches by foreign authors on salary

- Research on salary and wage policy for civil servants in the modern market economy

1.2 Research situation on civil servants, salary and civil servant salary policy of domestic authors

It can be said that the number of articles, domestic research on wages and salary policy of civil servants is quite massive On the basis of an overview of available studies, the thesis author divides the research results of previous authors into research trends including:

- Research on civil servants at all levels (province, district, commune)

- Research on salaries and wages of civil servants

- Research on salary policy, salary management mechanism for civil servants

1.3 Contributions of the authors in the research on salary and salary policy of civil servants

It is possible to generalize the research on wages for civil servants, which has reflected the shortcomings of the civil servant payroll system, salary allowances, and methods of determining and adjusting the minimum wage , the salary management mechanism for State employees is not effective; the salary of civil servants is low, the average salary is paid, it does not reflect the working efficiency, so it does not create the motivation for cadres and civil servants to work with peace of mind working in the corporate sector more and more

On that basis, the research works also propose a number of reform directions to the wage policy in the new period, such as the need to pay wages according to the market, pay according to the job and pay according to the work performance

The results obtained from the above studies are valuable to support the author in the process of researching and completing the thesis

On the basis of reference and analysis of these studies, the thesis will inherit and develop the successes of previous studies on salary policy for civil servants

1.4 The issues that need to be further researched on the salary policy of civil servants in general and the salary policy of commune-level civil servants in particular

- The first, evaluate the current situation of commune-level civil servant policies

- The second, evaluate the current situation of salary and

income of commune-level civil servants on the basis of comparison with the salary and income of civil servants at all levels and the salary and income of workers in the production and business areas business, business unit

- The third, basically improve the contents of the salary policy

for commune-level civil servants

- The fourth, perfecting the bases for paying salaries to

commune-level civil servants such as payroll and administrative management funding; design the salary payment plan according to the job position; perfecting the system of analyzing and evaluating the work performance of commune-level civil servants

- The fifth, to improve the conditions for implementing the

salary policy for commune-level civil servants

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE SALARY POLICY FOR

COMMNUNE-LEVEL CIVIL SERVANTS

2.1 The concept

2.1.1 Some basic concepts

* The concept of civil servants

Civil servants are people who are recruited and appointed to do a regular job in a state office and receive a salary from the state

budget

* The concept of commune-level civil servants

- The 2003 Ordinance on Cadres and Civil Servants and Decree No 114/2003/ND-CP stipulated that the contingent of cadres and civil servants in our country has an additional section of commune-level officials and civil servants In which, commune-level civil servants are defined as those who are recruited and assigned to hold a professional title under the commune-level People’s Committee

2.2 The salary policy of communal civil servants

The salary policy of commune-level civil servants is a collection of viewpoints, development ideas, general goals and basic methods to pay salaries to commune-level civil servants to ensure fairness, reflect properly quality and working efficiency of commune-level civil servants, ensuring the reproduction of labor power and stimulating the working ability of commune-level civil servants

The salary policy of civil servants in general and level civil servants in particular includes the following contents: (i) Minimum salary; (ii) Minimum-average-maximum salary relationship; (iii) Salary allowance; (iv) Payroll system; (v) Salary allowance; (vi) Payment method; (vii) Salary management mechanism

commune-2.3 Criterion for evaluating effectiveness of the salary policy

- Ensuring fairness in paying salaries to commune-level civil servants;

- Ensure that the salary of commune-level civil servants must be associated with the job position and professional qualifications;

- Ensuring efficiency in salary payment;

- Ensuring a standard of living for commune-level civil servants and their families in line with the development of the economy;

- Ensuring encouragement and motivation for commune-level civil servants

2.4 Factors affecting the salary policy of communal civil servants

- Viewpoints of the Party and State on salaries paid to civil servants;

- Legal regulations for the contingent of commune-level civil servants;

- Financial capability;

- Administrative reform;

- Performance evaluation system of administrative civil servants;

- Policies on socialization of service jobs;

- Other factors (Policy on treatment and attraction of talents; policy

on training and developing human resources, policy on social security)

2.5 Experiences of some countries on salary policy reform for civil servants and lessons for Vietnam

2.5.1 Experiences of some countries

- Korea’s civil servant salary policy;

- China's civil servant salary policy;

- Singapore’s civil servant salary policy

2.5.2 Lessons for civil servant salary reform in Vietnam

From the experience of the salary reform for civil servant in countries around the world, some lessons that can be applied to Vietnam are:

The first, Salary must be associated with the position of the cadre

or civil servant, the salary arrangement and payment must be made according to the capacity and specification of the job, not necessarily depending on the number of years;

The second, Adjust the starting salary and salary paid on the basis

of agreement;

The third, Facing intense competition in the labor market from the private sector, in order to attract and retain talented and highly qualified people, the public sector needs to regularly adjust and review salary policies of civil servants and need to expand the system of allowances and non-wage income for cardres and civil servants

The fourth, Salary in the public sector are closely linked to performance appraisal and assessment, grading and promotion will

be made on the basis of performance and efficiency assessment; The fifth, Public policies need to seriously pay attention to the knowledge, skills and abilities of cadres and civil servants;

The sixth, The structure of the public sector salary system must

be flexibly and usefully designed for attracting, retaining and rewarding civil servants in different occupational groups and working plans in different sectors and development stages of the country;

The seventh, Associating salaries and bonuses of cadres and civil servants with economic growth

CHAPTER 3 SITUATION OF THE SALARY POLICY FOR COMMNUNE-

LEVEL CIVIL SERVANTS

3.1 Vietnam's socio-economic context in the process of salary

policy reform

3.1.1 The socio-economic context of Vietnam in the period before 1986

3.1.2 Vietnam's socio-economic context in the period from 1986 to 1993

3.1.3 Vietnam's socio-economic context in the period from 1993 to 2004

3.1.4 Vietnam's socio-economic context in the period 2005 to present

3.2 Situation of the commune-level civil servants contingent

3.2.1 Number of commune-level civil servants

The total number of cadres, civil servants and public officials

in general and the number of commune-level civil servants are

shown in the following table:

Table 3.1 Number of commune-level civil servants period 2003 – 2018

Units: people

Total of CS 1.530.000 2.251.000 2.800.000 2.742.310 2.025.551 commune-level

cardres & civil

(Source: statistics of the Ministry of Home Affairs)

The above table shows that the total number of cadres, civil

servants and officials has increased rapidly over the years Table data

also show that the number of commune-level civil servants also

increased quite high in the period from 2003 to 2018, then decreased

until 2020

3.2.2 Quality of commune-level civil servants

According to statistics of the Ministry of Home Affairs on the quantity

and quality of cadres, civil servants and part-time workers at commune

level, in 2015, it shows that: Professional qualifications of the

commune-level civil servants are lower than the common commune-level of the cadres and civil servants contingent at all levels Commune-level cadres and civil servants with intermediate professional qualifications make up the vast majority (cadres account for 36.2%) The cause of this situation is that the majority of commune-level civil servants come from rural, remote and isolated areas, so it is very difficult to train and foster cadres and civil servants to meet standards

3.3 Actual situation of the salary policy for commune-level cadres and civil servants

3.3.1 Analysis of the current situation of salary policy for level cadres and civil servants through the reforms

commune-3.3.1.1 The salary policy for civil servants in the period of 1985 – 1992 3.3.1.2 The salary policy for civil servants in the period from 1993 to 2003 3.3.1.3 The salary policy for civil servants in the period from 2004 to present

3.3.1.4 New points in the salary policy prescribed for level cadres and civil servants

The process of reforming the salary for cadres and civil servants through each stage shows that, from 1985 to the end of October 2003, commune-level cadres and civil servants were not entitled to a salary but only a monthly living allowance Up to November 2003, after nearly 10 years of implementing the subsistence allowance regime for commune-level cadres and civil servants, the Government adjusted the salary regime for commune-level civil servants (from monthly paying living expenses to salaries for commune-level civil servants) Specifically, the Government issued Decree No 121/2003/ND-CP dated October 21, 2003 of the Government on regimes and policies for cadres and civil servants in communes, wards, markets and Joint Circular No 34/2004/TTLT-BNV-BTC-BLDTBXH dated May 14, 2004 guiding the implementation of Decree No 121/2003/ND-CP dated October 21,

2003 of the Government According to Decree No 121/2003/ND-CP dated October 21, 2003 of the Government and Joint Circular No 34/2004/TTLT-BNV-BTC-BLDTBXH dated May 14, 2004, salaries

for commune-level cadres and civil servants has changed fundamentally as follows: Salaries are distributed according to target groups (i) Salary regime for full-time commune-level officials; (ii) Salary regime for commune-level civil servants and allowances regime for part-time officials at commune level Decree 92/2009/ND-

CP dated October 22, 2009 continues to have specific regulations on regimes and policies for cadres, civil servants in communes, wards, townships and those who work part-time in communes In that, it clearly stipulates the principles of salary payment, salary arrangement, salary increase, prolongation of raising salary time, salary and allowance regimes for commune-level civil servants In addition to salary, they also get additional position allowances, extra-seniority allowances, allowances for concurrently holding titles and allowances according to commune type

3.3.2 Evaluation the salary and income policy for commune-level civil servants according to the following criteria

3.3.2.1 Evaluation of the level of fairness and efficiency in salary payment for commune-level civil servants

To assess the current status of salary and income of commune-level civil servants, the author conducted a survey with

500 commune-level civil servants in 10 provinces across the country The following is an analysis of the results of the survey

Table 3.3 Average monthly salary of commune-level civil

servants over the years Average salary Year 2015 Year 2016 Difference

2016/2015 Average Salary

(Source: Investigation results)

Thus, the monthly average salary of commune-level civil servants is quite low, much lower than that of civil servants at other