Employers shirk social insurance dues hinh anh 1A staff from Vietnam Social Insurance Agency branch in Nghe An Province is delivering social insurance cards for local people. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Avoiding paying social insurance fees and social insurance debt has continued to increase, said the Social Insurance Agency’s Deputy Director General Pham Luong Son.

According to the agency, the number of employers that do not pay workers’ social insurance or health insurance has risen in the first two months of this year.
Non-payment of the obligations is a problem at State-owned, private and foreign–invested enterprises, Son said.

By the end of last year, total social insurance, health and unemployment insurance debt was 7.58 trillion VND (336.8 million USD), equivalent to 3.2 percent of the collection plan.

Of the figure, social insurance debt was 6.55 trillion VND, unemployment insurance debt 323 billion VND and health insurance debt, 705 billion VND.

The causes of the situation, according to Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Doan Mau Diep, is a lack of awareness on the part of employers, lax inspection of the State, weak punishments and also labourers’ lack of knowledge about their rights to insurance.

Meanwhile, Pham Luong Son said this year, under the direction of the Government and insurance company, the agency would make public the name of enterprises that owe social security dues.

As of the end of February, the number of people participating in compulsory social insurance was 13 million, unemployment insurance 11.2 million, voluntary social insurance 225,000 and health insurance 76.1 million.-VNA

VNA