The Government’s proposal to adjust Article 60 of the 2014 Social Insurance Law has received mixed opinions from both workers and National Assembly (NA) deputies.

The new law would require all workers to wait until retirement age – 60 for men and 55 for women - to receive their insurance payments in the form of monthly pension. However, some workers wished to collect a lump-sum payment of their social insurance coverage when they quit working before the retirement age.

The Government has proposed letting workers choose the form of payment themselves.

At the group discussions on the issue on May 22, the third working day of the NA’s ninth session, deputies Nguyen Bac Son and Chu Son Ha from Hanoi said a great number of labourers are working in the non-State sector where wages are low and jobs are not stable. Therefore, many of them tend to work for some years only to accumulate some money.

Legislators Nguyen Thanh Hong from Binh Duong and Do Thi Hoang from Quang Ninh, however, said the Article is aligned with the Party and State 2015 goal of providing social insurance coverage for half of workers, so that they can have stable income in old age.

A majority of legislators and politicians, including Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen, said more educational campaigns should be conducted to help workers understand the pros and cons of both options with the view of having more labourers choose to receive pensions when they retire.-VNA