Many motorcycle taxi drivers who are carrying tourists to visit Quang Nam Province’s UNESCO-recognized natural heritage site of Hoi An City, the Hoai River with meager income but they still want to pay voluntary social insurance so that they will have a pension to ensure their life when they get old.

On a field trip to Quang Nam Province organized by the Vietnam Social Security, journalists in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City interviewed motorcycle taxi drivers in the ancient town about social security policies for freelance workers.

Chairman of the Hoi An motorcycle taxi service Union Phan Phuoc Tung said that a grassroots organization under the Hoi An City Labor Federation was established in 1997 – a gathering of freelance motorcycle taxi drivers in Hoi An ancient town. Since its establishment, the union has only 52 members, but 102 have joined to become union members dividing into 4 groups with 5 berths. Cyclo cycling not only serves tourists who wish to see the old town but also creates a unique image and ancient beauty for this country.

According to Mr. Phan Phuoc Tung, although their incomes are about VND8 million-VND10 million a month, 10 people decided to join the social insurance voluntarily to enjoy health care policies; most importantly, they will later have a pension.

With a total monthly income of more than VND10 million from cycling, Mr. Tung decided to deduct 10 percent (or about VND 1.1 million) per month to pay for voluntary social insurance.

Mr. Tung revealed some people have paid VND 500,000, VND 700,000, and VND 800,000 per month for voluntary insurance depending on their incomes for about a year.

Young man Nguyen Tan Manh born in 1991, in Cam Nam Ward, a union member, said that he has been working as a motorcycle taxi driver for 6 years. During and after the Covid-19 epidemic, the number of tourists decreased, and the economy was still difficult, so he and many members of the union could not participate in voluntary social insurance, but he affirmed to join if the policy is more open while the economy recovered.

According to the provisions of Article 87 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, the monthly voluntary social insurance contribution rate is equal to 22 percent of the monthly income selected by the participants (but must be at least equal to the poverty line in rural areas).

Although the poverty line of rural areas has increased from VND 700,000 to VND 1.5 million a month from January 1, 2022, according to the Decree No. 07/2021/ND-CP, many workers are still also unable to pay for insurance due to their inadequate incomes.

Mr. Nguyen Tan Manh said if a person only pays a few hundred to VND1 million a month, their pension will not be much.

However, according to the social insurance industry, the pension level to be enjoyed upon reaching the retirement age and full years of payment is not based on the amount already paid for social insurance but is paid based on the income level as the basis for paying voluntary social insurance contributions that the person has paid. Therefore, for those who participate in voluntary social insurance, in addition to the amount of money employees pay themselves, the State will help them pay a sum for voluntary social insurance.

According to the Vietnam Social Security, the number of people participating in and benefiting from social insurance and health insurance is increasing day by day. It is estimated that by the end of July 2023, the country has about 17.5 million people participating in social insurance up 3.64 percent over the same period in 2022.

Amongst them, more than 16 million people participate in compulsory social insurance and nearly 1.5 million people participate in voluntary social insurance. At the same time, the total number of people participating in unemployment insurance is 14.3 million. The total number of people participating in health insurance is 91.3 million people or the national coverage rate of nearly 92 percent.

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