Officials have suggested Vietnam state office workers receive a minimum wage of VND3.15 million (US$150) per month starting in 2013.

The proposal, based on the country’s average expenditure per capita in 2011, was the highest made at a conference host by the Ministry of Interior in Ho Chi Minh City on December 12. The other two were VND1.68 million and VND2 million, based on current minimum wages within the business sector.

Participants at the conference said the current minimum wage for state workers is too low and does not meet their basic needs, local news website VnExpress reported.

As of May 2012, the minimum wage for the workers will be raised from VND830,000 a month to VND1.05 million, still lower than the current minimum wages at business sector, which are between VND1.4-2 million.

Doan Cuong, director of the Department of Labor and Salary at the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said at the conference that “The salaries of state office workers must be put relevant to the average income on the market… There will be corruption otherwise.”

Figures at the conference showed that current minimum wages are just 58 percent of the average expenditure per capita in 2011, raising the need for new wage increase policies.

The conference will be brought to Da Nang in central Vietnam and Hanoi this month.