Vietnam Social Security (VSS) is a governmental agency that has the functions of implementing social and health insurance (SI, HI) policies; implementing the collection and payment of unemployment insurance (UI); managing the social security funds, namely, SI, UI, HI funds; inspecting the contribution and payment of SI, UI and HI in compliance with the law.
Seven benefits of SI, HI include: (1) sickness; (2) maternity; (3) work injury and occupational disease; (4) retirement; (5) survivor; (6) medical (health insurance); and (7) unemployment; in which:
- compulsory SI includes five benefits, from (1) to (5) above;
- voluntary SI (implemented since 2008) has two benefits: (1) and (2).
In 2015, before the implementation of the 2014 Law on Social Insurance, the number of SI participants was 12.3 million people, equal to 24.8 per cent of the labour force, of which compulsory SI and voluntary SI was 12.1 million and 0.2 million people respectively. The number of UI participants was about 20.8 per cent of the labour force; the number of HI participants was 68.5 million people, reaching a coverage rate of 74.7 per cent of the population.
With the efforts of VSS, by April 2021, participation of the labour force in SI and UI was at 32.3 per cent and 26.6 per cent, respectively; and the number of HI participants has reached 87.3 million people equivalent to 89.4 per cent of the population.