45,000 HCMC businesses owe $172 mln in social security payments

Nguyen Thi My Dung, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Social Security Office, said Thursday around 25,000 businesses owe between 1-3 months worth of social security payments, totaling over VND1.5 trillion; and another 6,400 owe more than 12 months worth, amounting to over VND1.7 trillion, she added.

The amount of oustanding social security payments was 6.84 percent of total dues, Dung said, adding that the figure had nearly doubled from the end of 2021.

Among several factors behind the high outsanding amounts were the fact that many companies did not declare their workforce strength or simply refused to pay their dues in full. Financial hardship caused by the Covid-19 pandemic had also resulted in payment delays.

Several companies had “vanished” after failing to pay workers’ social insurance for long periods, the office noted, adding that it has requested the police to deal with certain cases of delayed social insurance payments affecting a large number of workers. But so far, no business has been investigated for such a violation.

HCMC has the largest amount of collected and paid social insurance in Vietnam. The municipal social security office oversees over 110,000 businesses in the city with over 2.3 million people enrolled in its programs.

Contributions to the social insurance fund pay for workers’ pensions and other forms of compensation when they fall sick and take paternity or maternity leave.