Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Most of the current income ofworkers does not meet their expenditure, and in some cases, it only meets 45%of demand, according to a survey by the Institute of Workers and Trade Unionsunder the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour.

The survey, which was conducted on 3,000 workers and 157businesses in six provinces and cities before the first round of regionalminimum wage negotiations in 2024, shows that 52.3% of employees work overtimewith an average time of 1.75 hours per day, said Pham Thi Thu Lan, theinstitute’s vice director.

Most surveyed workers volunteered to work overtime to earn extraincome and improve their lives, Lan said.

In 2024, the shortage of orders is forecast to continue, as 17.2%of surveyed enterprises said that the shortage of orders next year willincrease compared to this year.

The basic salary, including full-time work, is more than 6 millionVND (258 USD) per month, 8.4% higher than the March 2022 survey, and 37.5% to51.9% higher than the regional minimum wage.

Meanwhile, the average expenditure in 2023 is 12 million VND (504 USD)per month, increasing by 19% against 2022, of which expenditure for foodaccounts for 70%.

The survey also shows that incomes of over 24% of labourers meettheir basic expenditure while incomes of 75.5% of labourers do not meetexpenditure.

According to the vice director, more than 53% of the labourerssaid that they had to reconsider getting married or having children because oftheir low incomes.

Regarding accommodation, more than 23% of the salary goes on rentat an average rate of 1.8 million VND (75.6 USD) per month, includingelectricity and water fees.

Most of the 157 surveyed enterprises develop salary scales as perthe levels of regional minimum wage, while 23.4% of the enterprises cut offallowances for training and hazardous work.

Nguyen Thai Duong, vice president of Vietnam’s textile and garmenttrade union, said the union wanted the workers to have jobs and higher incomes,but the businesses have faced many difficulties.

In the first half of this year, the export turnover of the sectordecreased by 20%, equivalent to 4 billion USD, and the number of workers wholost their jobs reached more than 600,000 people.

Therefore, this situation will affect workers' wages and theminimum wage that is about to be negotiated, said Duong.

Increasing the regional minimum wage is meaningful.

However, for people with higher salaries, such as the averagesalary in the textile industry of 8.8 million VND (370 USD) per month, whenincreasing wages, their real income does not increase, he added./.