Labourers who are ineligible for retirement pensions because they havenot made compulsory social insurance payments for the required amount ofyears may choose to get a one-off lump sum or continue to receivemonthly payments if a Government proposal gets approval from theNational Assembly later this month.

Minister ofLabour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen made theproposal after presenting a Government report on Article 60 of the 2014Law on Social Insurance at the ongoing 9th session of the 13th NationalAssembly in Hanoi on May 21.

According to thereport, the Government asked for modifications to the article to create aflexible policy on social insurance, meeting the wishes of manylabourers.

The regulation would also be applied to voluntary social insurance payers.

Chuyen said that the 2014 Law on Social Insurance had additionalregulations to create favourable conditions for labourers to payinsurance so that they could receive monthly pension payments when theyretired.

She predicted that the number of labourerwho opted for lump sum payments would fall when they learnt more aboutthe advantages of a monthly pension.

Chairwoman ofthe NA Committee on Social Affairs Truong Thi Mai said the majority ofthe committee's members agreed with the Government's proposal.

However, she asked the Government to map out a plan for one-timepayments to match the number of labourers and the development of thelabour market.

The modifications to Article 60 should ensure that more labourers receive a pension when they retire, she said.

NA deputies continue to discuss Article 60 in groups on May 22 before a plenary session on May 27.-VNA