Part-Time Workers Seek Unemployment Insurance Coverage to Secure Social Welfare Benefits

Safeguarding Rights as Work Arrangements Become Increasingly Flexible

The expansion of the digital economy, e-commerce, the service sector, and flexible labor models is reshaping the employment landscape. Alongside traditional full-time employment, an increasing number of positions operate on shift-based, hourly, daily, or weekly schedules tailored to corporate staffing demands and personal circumstances. Part-time labor is not only prevalent in retail, food services, and hospitality, but also across various industries characterized by flexible workflows.

However, diverse working hours, contract formats, and compensation arrangements necessitate clear definitions of insurance obligations. This clarity prevents situations where workers earn an income but remain excluded from standard social safety nets.

In practice, administrative bottlenecks regarding insurance eligibility for part-time workers have emerged across multiple localities.

Speaking with Phap Luat Viet Nam (Vietnam Law) Newspaper, Le Thi Dung, an accommodation facility owner in Hanoi, noted that her business employs three part-time technical maintenance staff. These workers report only when technical faults arise rather than keeping fixed office hours. Because these technicians already hold formal labor contracts and contribute to mandatory social insurance at another company, the owner remains uncertain about her statutory insurance obligations at their secondary workplace.

In another instance, Thu Phuong, a student in Hanoi, works eight hours a day on a part-time basis at a local coffee shop. Phuong noted that she remains unsure about her insurance obligations under a part-time labor agreement.

The 2024 Social Insurance Law stipulates that part-time employees working under labor contracts with a term of one month or longer—whose earnings meet or exceed the statutory minimum wage threshold for mandatory social insurance—must participate in mandatory social insurance. In cases where an individual enters into labor contracts with multiple employers, mandatory social insurance contributions are remitted under the first signed contract.

Both cases demonstrate that part-time employment does not exempt workers from statutory social insurance regulations. Compliance hinges on establishing the true nature of the employment relationship, contractual term, wage level, and current insurance status of each individual.

Determining Unemployment Insurance Contribution Wages Under Employment Contracts

Decree No. 374/2025/ND-CP details the monthly wage basis for unemployment insurance contributions applicable to part-time workers: the monthly wage must equal or exceed the minimum wage threshold used for mandatory social insurance contributions, determined by the monthly remuneration agreed upon in the labor contract.

Notably, the decree provides specific conversion mechanisms for contracts that do not define compensation on a monthly basis. Under these provisions, if wages are agreed upon on an hourly basis, the monthly calculation equals the hourly rate multiplied by the agreed total monthly hours. Similarly, for daily or weekly wage agreements, the insurable baseline equals the corresponding daily or weekly rate multiplied by the agreed working days or weeks in the month.

This regulation establishes a unified legal basis to enforce unemployment insurance obligations for flexible work arrangements, curbing arbitrary income conversions and inaccurate wage declarations.

For example, a worker signs a part-time contract at an hourly rate of 40,000 VND for an agreed schedule of 80 hours per month. The monthly wage basis for unemployment insurance is calculated at 3.2 million VND.

If the employee must enroll in unemployment insurance under this contract, each party pays the current statutory rate of 1% of the monthly wage baseline. In this scenario, the worker contributes 32,000 VND and the employer contributes 32,000 VND each month.

Another critical factor is the statutory wage threshold governing mandatory participation. Under the 2024 Social Insurance Law, the lowest wage basis for mandatory social insurance contributions equals the reference level. Effective July 1, 2026, the statutory base salary was adjusted to 2.53 million VND per month pursuant to Decree No. 161/2026/ND-CP; a corresponding reference level applies during the interim phase prior to the complete abolition of the statutory base salary system.

Consequently, employers must compare the calculated monthly wages of part-time staff against the threshold enforced at the time of determining insurance liabilities.

Enterprises must also distinguish genuine part-time employees working under direct employment relationships from independent service contractors. This determination rests on contractual terms, compensation structures, and the degree of direct managerial control, direction, and oversight exerted by the employer.

Expanding unemployment insurance eligibility to part-time labor addresses concrete needs as national employment structures evolve. Shift, hourly, and flexible-schedule workers who satisfy statutory criteria can now access the unemployment safety net rather than remaining unprotected simply because they do not log standard full-time hours.

Source: baophapluat.vn