Labour, wages and hiringLao động và tiền lương

Regional minimum wage structure

Vietnam does not have a single national minimum wage. Instead, the National Wage Council recommends four regional rates, which the government then enacts by decree. The regions are defined by economic development level rather than by named province, and following the provincial merger of 1 July 2025 the mapping of communes to regions was updated accordingly.

Region I covers the most urbanised and industrialised areas, including the urban cores of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Region II covers adjacent and secondary urban areas. Regions III and IV apply to progressively more rural parts of the country. The regional differential exists because the cost of living and labour market conditions vary considerably across the country's 34 provinces.

Rates are expressed as a monthly floor for full-time employees on indefinite or fixed-term contracts. The effective date of the most recent decree should be checked against official government publications, as rates are subject to periodic revision and prices are held separately from this page.

Social insurance and statutory contributions

On top of the base wage, both employer and employee contribute to three mandatory funds administered by the Vietnam Social Security agency (Bảo hiểm Xã hội Việt Nam, or BHXH).

• Social insurance (bảo hiểm xã hội): covers sickness, maternity, occupational accidents, retirement and survivorship. The employer's share is substantially larger than the employee's share.
• Health insurance (bảo hiểm y tế): entitles the insured to treatment at contracted public hospitals at reduced cost-sharing rates.
• Unemployment insurance (bảo hiểm thất nghiệp): applies to employees on contracts of three months or longer and provides a benefit of up to 60 per cent of the average wage for a capped period.

Contribution percentages are set by decree and have changed several times since the 2019 Labour Code took effect. The contribution base is the contractual wage, subject to a ceiling expressed as a multiple of the base salary (lương cơ sở). Foreign employees are subject to compulsory social insurance under rules that were phased in from 2018 onward, though some bilateral social-security agreements affect this. Precise current rates should be verified against the latest BHXH circulars.

Working hours, overtime and rest

The 2019 Labour Code (Bộ luật Lao động 2019), which came into force on 1 January 2021, sets the standard working week at no more than 48 hours, with 8 hours per day as the ordinary limit. Many employers in the formal sector operate on a 40-hour, five-day week, particularly in services and technology.

Overtime is capped at 40 additional hours per month and 200 hours per year for most sectors. The annual cap rises to 300 hours for a defined list of industries including electronics assembly, garments, footwear, seafood processing and certain other manufacturing sectors, subject to notification of the local labour authority.

Overtime premium rates are set by statute: higher on weekdays than on rest days, and higher again on public holidays and paid annual leave days. Employees are entitled to at least one full rest day per week, ordinarily Sunday. Night-shift work (from 22:00 to 06:00) attracts an additional allowance.

Annual paid leave begins at 12 days per year for most employees and rises with seniority. Employees working in physically demanding or hazardous conditions listed by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) receive 14 or 16 days.

Hiring, contracts and termination

The Labour Code requires a written labour contract before or on the day work commences. Two main contract types exist: the indefinite-term contract and the fixed-term contract of up to 36 months. A second consecutive fixed-term contract that is renewed again must convert to an indefinite-term contract.

Probation periods are capped by role: 180 days for enterprise managers, 60 days for jobs requiring a university degree or higher, 30 days for intermediate vocational certificates or technical workers, and 6 days for other work. Only one probation period per role is permitted.

Termination by the employer requires a lawful ground specified in the code, including redundancy due to structural or technological change. Notice periods range from 3 to 45 days depending on contract type and ground. Unlawful dismissal obliges the employer to reinstate the employee and pay compensation. Severance allowance (trợ cấp thôi việc) accrues at half a month's wage per year of service for employment predating the unemployment insurance scheme; years covered by unemployment insurance are excluded from severance calculation.

Trade unions and collective bargaining

All trade union activity in Vietnam operates under the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (Tổng Liên đoàn Lao động Việt Nam, VGCL), the sole legally recognised trade union federation. Enterprise-level unions affiliate upward through industry and provincial federations to the VGCL, which itself has formal representation in the National Assembly.

The 2019 Labour Code introduced the possibility of employee representative organisations (EROs) independent of the VGCL, a change partly driven by commitments under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The implementing framework for independent EROs was still being developed as of the mid-2020s, and their practical operation remains limited.

Collective labour agreements (thỏa ước lao động tập thể) can set terms more favourable than the statutory floor. Strikes are legal only after a defined conciliation and arbitration process; wildcat strikes—common particularly in foreign-invested manufacturing zones—are technically unlawful but have historically resulted in negotiated wage increases rather than prosecution.

Skills, qualifications and the labour market

Vietnam's labour force is large and young relative to regional peers, but the share of workers holding recognised vocational or higher qualifications remains relatively low. MOLISA and the Ministry of Education and Training have run successive programmes to expand vocational education and training (VET), with a particular focus on manufacturing, logistics and information technology.

The country's integration into global supply chains—especially in electronics, textiles and footwear—has created strong demand for semi-skilled assembly workers in industrial zones concentrated around Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Bac Ninh and Bac Giang. Shortages are more acute for mid-level technical supervisors and engineers.

The technology sector in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City competes for software developers and data professionals with regional markets, and wage pressure in this segment is significant. English proficiency varies widely: strong among university-educated urban professionals, weaker in manufacturing and agriculture.

Foreign workers require a work permit (giấy phép lao động) unless they fall within an exemption category. Permits are issued for up to two years and are renewable. Employers must demonstrate that the role cannot be filled by a local candidate before a permit is approved.