To standardize regulations on insurance schemes within the social security system, numerous Laws and guiding legal documents have been issued in a relatively short period of time. The Social Insurance Law (replacing the Social Insurance Law 2014) was passed on 29 June 2024 and took effect on 1 July 2025 (“SI Law 2024”), the amended Occupational Safety and Health Law (amending Occupational Safety and Health Law 2015) was passed on 16 September 2024 and took effect on 1 July 2025 (collectively referred to, under the consolidated version, as “Consolidated OSH Law 2024”), the amended Health Insurance Law (amending the Health Insurance Law 2008) was passed on 27 November 2024 and took effect on 1 July 2025 (collectively referred to, under the consolidated version, as “Consolidated HI Law 2024”), and the Employment Law (replacing the Employment Law 2013) was passed on 16 June 2025 and will enter into force on 1 January 2026 (“SI Law 2025”).

Accordingly, from 1 July 2025, the insurance schemes within the social security system, including social insurance (“SI”), unemployment insurance (“UI”), occupational accident and disease insurance (“OADI”), and health insurance (“HI”), have undergone significant changes.

These changes affect various stakeholders. However, within the scope of this article, we will outline the changes to the aforementioned insurance schemes as they apply to employees and employers under labour agreements (“Employment Contract”), as stipulated in the SI Law 2024 (Article 2.1.(a)) and correspondingly provided and referenced in the Employment Law 2025, the Consolidated OSH Law 2024, and the HI Law 2024. Specifically, this refers to “persons working under indefinite-term employment contracts, definite-term employment contracts with a term of full 1 month or longer, including cases where the employee and the employer agree upon under another contract title, but the content indicates paid employment with wages and the management, administration and supervision by one party.”

The following table provides a summary of contribution rates and contribution bases applicable to each insurance schemes:

No.	Insurance scheme	Contribution rate			Contribution base (lowest/ highest)	Notable regulations
		Employer	Employee	Total
1.1	SI – Sickness	3.0%	–	3.0%	Monthly salary.   (>= Reference level/base salary level; =< 20 times the reference level/base salary).	Under SI Law 2024: –       Article 31.1.dd: The salary used as the basis for compulsory SI contributions must be no less than the reference level and no more than 20 times the reference level at the time of contribution. –       Article 141.13: Until the base salary is abolished, the reference level shall be equal to the base salary. From the time the base salary is abolished, the reference level must not be lower than the base salary.
1.2	SI – Maternity
1.3	SI – Retirement	14.0%	8.0%	22.0%
1.4	SI – Survivorship
2	UI (for Vietnamese employees)	1.0%	1.0%	2.0%	Monthly salary/ Monthly salary fund.   (=< 20 times the region-based minimum monthly wage).	Under Employment Law 2025: –       Article 33.1: Employees contribute up to 1% of their monthly salary and employers contribute up to 1% of the monthly salary fund of employees currently participating in UI. –       Article 34.2: The highest monthly salary level used as a basis for UI contributions is equal to 20 times the region-based minimum monthly wage announced by the Government at the time of contribution.
3	OADI	0.5%	–	0.5%	The salary fund used as the basis for SI contribution for employees.   (>= Reference level/base salary; =< 20 times the reference level/base salary).	Under Consolidated OSH Law 2024: –     Article 44.1: employers shall contribute maximum upto 1% of the salary fund used as the basis for employees’s compulsory SI contribution. Under Decree No.158/2025/ND-CP dated 25 June 2025, effective from 1 July 2025 (Article 43.2): –       The normal rate is equal to 0.5% of the monthly salary used as the basis for compulsory SI contribution; or –       A lower rate of 0.3% may apply to enterprises that satisfy the prescribed eligibility conditions.
4	HI	3.0%	1.5%	4.5%	Monthly salary.   (=< 20 times the reference level/base salary).	Under Consolidated HI 2024: –    Article 13.1.(a): The maximum contribution rate is 6% of the monthly salary, in which the employer contributes two thirds, and the employee contributes one-third. –    Article 14.5: The maximum monthly salary used for calculation of HI contributions is 20 times the reference level. Under Decree No.188/2025/ND-CP dated 1 July 2025 of Government, taking effect on 15 August 2025 (Article 6.1.(a)): –    The contribution rate is 4.5% of the monthly salary used as the basis for compulsory SI contributions, of which two-thirds to be paid by the employer and one-third by the employee.
	Total	21.5%	10.5%	32.0%

From the summary above, it is noted that:
• Maximum contribution rate: Currently, the contribution rates for OADI and HI (as stipulated in the Decree) are lower than the statutory maximum rate (as stipulated in the Law). Therefore, if contributions are made at the maximum rate, the total compulsory insurance contribution rate for both the employee and the employer will increase to 34% (instead of current 32%), comprising of 11% from the employee (instead of 10.5%) and 23% from the employer (instead of 21.5%).

Reference level, base salary, and maximum contribution threshold: Currently, there appears to be no Government regulations specifying the reference level or base salary applicable for employees and employers for the purposes of calculating SI, OADI and HI contributions. Decree No. 73/2024/ND-CP, dated 30 June 2024, taking effect on 1 July 2024, only stipulates the base salary applicable to cadres, public officials, civil servants, and armed forces personnel, but not to employees and employers. However, we understand that the base salary stipulated under Decree 73/2024/ND-CP may continue to serve as the base level for calculating SI, OADI and HI contributions to be paid by employees and employers in 2026. If so, with the current base salary of VND 2,340,000/month, the maximum monthly contribution threshold for SI, OADI and HI could reach VND 46,800,000 in 2026, meaning an increase of approximately 20% compared to the VND 36,000,000 threshold applied from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, and approximately 57% compared to the VND 29,800,000 threshold applied from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2023.

• Particularly, for UI, the Employment Law 2025 uses a region-based minimum monthly wage as the basis for UI contributions instead of using a reference level or base salary. Decree No. 293/2025/ND-CP, dated 10 November 2025, taking effect on 1 January 2026, sets the region-based minimum monthly wage as follows: VND 5,310,000 for Region I; VND 4,730,000 for Region II; VND 4,140,000 for Region III; and VND 3,700,000 for Region IV. Thus, the maximum monthly UI contribution threshold in Region I could reach VND 106,200,000,000, an increase of approximately 7% compared to the VND 99,200,000 threshold applied from 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2025, and approximately 13.5% compared to the VND 93,600,000 threshold applied from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2024.

• In cases where an employee enters into multiple employment contracts: The SI Law 2024 (Article 2.5.(a)) stipulates that if a person enters into employment contracts with multiple employers, he/she shall participate in compulsory SI under the first employment contract he/she has entered into. The Consolidated HI Law 2024 (Article 13.5.(b)) stipulates that an employee who concurrently enters into multiple employment contracts must pay HI contribution based on the employment contract that is used as the basis for compulsory SI participation. (Previously, the HI Law stipulated that HI contributions were based on the employment contract with the highest salary or wage). Although there is no specific regulation in place, we understand that the Employment Law 2025 also references the employment contract used for compulsory SI participation as the basis for UI contributions. However, unlike the SI Law 2024, the Consolidated HI Law 2024 and the Employment Law 2025, the Consolidated OSH Law 2024 (Article 43.2) stipulates that in cases where an employee enters into employment contracts with multiple employers, each employer is required to contribute to OADI separately for each employment contract, provided that the employee falls under the category of compulsory SI participants. This is a fundamental difference that employers must pay attention to when implementing OADI scheme compared to other compulsory insurance schemes.

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