Vietnam's social insurance has recently issued Decision 948/QD-BHXH to repeal sections a and b, point 2.6, Article 2 of Decision 595/QD-BHXH to align with Decree 38/2022/ND-CP. Accordingly, the provision that trained employees must have a higher social insurance contribution rate of at least 7% compared to untrained employees in Vietnam has been officially abolished.
Article 1 of Decision 948/QD-BHXH amends and supplements certain provisions of Decision 595/QD-BHXH dated April 14, 2017, by the Director-General of Vietnam Social Insurance, as follows:
"Repeal sections a and b, point 2.6, Article 6 of Decision 595/QD-BHXH dated April 14, 2017, by the Director-General of Vietnam Social Insurance. Specifically:
- Repeal the provision on the mandatory monthly social insurance contribution rate for employees performing jobs or positions requiring training or vocational education (including employees trained by the enterprise themselves) to be at least 7% higher than the regional minimum wage.
- Repeal the provision on the mandatory monthly social insurance contribution rate for employees performing physically demanding, hazardous, or dangerous jobs or positions to be at least 5% higher; for jobs or positions involving particularly physically demanding, hazardous, or dangerous conditions, it should be at least 7% higher than the wage level of jobs or positions with equivalent complexity working under normal labor conditions."
Starting from April 1, 2023, the mandatory monthly social insurance contribution rate for trained employees will no longer need to exceed the regional minimum wage by 7% as previously stipulated.
Moreover, employees performing physically demanding, hazardous, or dangerous jobs or positions will no longer have the requirement to exceed a certain percentage compared to employees working under normal conditions.
Decision 948 was issued to simplify administrative procedures and move closer to the goal of social equality in social insurance contributions, without differentiation based on employees' education or different working conditions.
Therefore, starting from April 2023, businesses need to report to the social insurance agency regarding the social insurance contribution rate for employees employed in their enterprises if their contribution rate is affected by Decision 948.
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