Amendment of the base salary for March 2026, experts propose how to calculate the increase
Experts believe that it is necessary to determine the base salary increase based on economic growth rate, consumer price index and budget balancing capacity.
According to the Appendix issued together with Official Dispatch No. 38/TTg-QHĐP in 2026, the Prime Minister has guided a number of key tasks to implement the Resolutions adopted at the 10th Session, 15th National Assembly.
In which, a noteworthy content is the task of adjusting the base salary and allowances, specifically stated in Resolution No. 265/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly.
Accordingly, in March 2026, the Government requested the Ministry of Home Affairs to take the lead in adjusting some types of allowances and the base salary level. At the same time, pensions, social insurance allowances, monthly allowances, preferential allowances for people with meritorious services, social allowances and social pension allowances will be adjusted.
This adjustment is implemented according to Conclusion No. 206-KL/TW dated November 10, 2025 of the Politburo, in order to continue to improve the lives of salaried people and beneficiaries of social security policies.
On March 8, in an exchange with Lao Dong Newspaper, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, former Director of the Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs (Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, now the Ministry of Home Affairs) said that public sector salaries have specific characteristics different from the minimum wage on the market.
The market minimum wage usually applies to simple labor, while public sector salaries are mainly for workers with professional and technical qualifications. Therefore, the determination of the base salary level needs to reflect the characteristics of the public sector human resources.
According to Ms. Huong, there are currently 3 main approaches to determining salaries.
The first method is to approach according to the minimum living needs. In this way, the salary level needs to ensure the cost of reproducing labor, including basic living expenses and items such as social insurance, training, and social security. From the minimum living standard, the minimum wage will be calculated, then the coefficient will be applied to determine salaries for levels in the system.
The second method is to approach according to the labor market. Accordingly, public sector salaries need to be compared with the salaries of equivalent positions in the market.
For example, if university-educated workers on the market today have an average salary of about 10 million VND/month, then public sector salaries also need to be designed at a corresponding level to avoid brain drain" - she gave an example.
The third method is to approach macroeconomic balance, i.e., determining the public sector's wage fund based on the scale of the economy; for example, the proportion of wage expenditure in GDP, then allocated to the number of workers in the system to calculate the average wage.
From these approaches, Ms. Huong believes that if the base salary mechanism is still maintained, the annual adjustment must at least compensate for price slippage and reflect economic growth.
In principle, the minimum base salary increase should be equal to the GDP growth rate plus the consumer price index (CPI) to preserve the value of wages," Ms. Huong said.
According to her, salaries always have two concepts: nominal value and actual value. Nominal value is the announced salary figure, and actual value is the purchasing power of the salary. When prices increase, if salaries are not adjusted accordingly, the actual income of workers will decrease.
In addition, economic growth also needs to be reflected in wages. According to Ms. Huong, the public sector plays an important role in planning and implementing development policies, so part of the economic growth achievements needs to be converted into income for workers in this sector.
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