Salaries in Hanoi increased 23.7% - nearly 3% higher than Ho Chi Minh City, Navigos Group reveals trends in 2008 Salary Market
Tue, 07-Oct-2008 01:05:00 +0700
(HCMC, Oct 7, 2008) - Navigos Group, Vietnam's leading and largest recruiting and integrated human resource solutions provider, announced its Vietnam Salary Survey 2008 Report in late September during two seminar events held in HCMC and Hanoi. Highlights of the survey were shared, indicating some interesting and unprecedented findings in the market. Jonah Levey, CEO of Navigos Group said, "This Report is an indispensible handbook for CEOs and HR Directors doing business in Vietnam. It's hard to go in the right direction in this changing business environment without the power of this information - it's like going into the forest without a compass."
The largest nationwide survey
According to Lia Abella, Senior Manager of Navigos Group, this is the largest and most comprehensive salary survey conducted in Vietnam in 2008. Indeed, the Report was founded on the analysis of data from 206 individual companies with surveyed data from 64,905 job holders. Amongst the participants, 71% are foreign-invested companies, and 29% local Vietnamese companies. Local Vietnamese companies reported slightly higher salary increases at 20.2% compared with other company types, perhaps in a continued attempt to catch up with the rest of the market. Wholly foreign-owned companies increased nearly the same by 20%.
Fifty-seven percent of the survey participants are based in HCMC, 17% in Hanoi and surrounding areas, 17% in the south-outside of HCMC and 9% in the central region.
Salaries in Hanoi increased 23.7% - nearly 3% higher than HCMC
Salary movement in terms of location revealed a 23.7% earnings increase in Hanoi - nearly 3% higher than HCMC, where earnings increased 21%. Despite the fact that Hanoi increased by a larger percentage, HCMC traditionally has higher salaries for the workforce and is perceived by many as the center of business in Vietnam.
Chart 1: Salary movement by location - April 2007 to March 2008
Financial Services showed the highest salary increase at 31.6%
For a second year, the Financial Services industry showed the highest salary movement compared with other industries measured by the survey. Findings showed that financial services-sector pay levels increased on average 31.6%. One reason may be that the banking sector was growing quite actively prior to the current economic slowdown.
Pay relativities by industry comparing Financial Services, Consumer Goods and Manufacturing further validated that the Finance industry pays higher salaries at professional and manager levels. Earnings average are 7,945 USD gross and 19,591 gross annual, respectively. The Consumer Goods industry pays professionals and managers slightly lower at average 7,504 USD gross and 18,752 USD gross annual, respectively. For the Manufacturing industry, earnings average for professionals are 6,840 USD gross and for managers 14,588 USD gross, per year.
Chart 2: Pay relativity by industries
Average gross total pay (annual)
Educational attainment determined salaries of entry to junior level positions
Educational attainment continues to be an important factor in determining salaries, however only up to a certain job level. For entry level positions to junior level positions, it appears that education pays: employees with Masters Degrees earn an average gross pay of 30,820 USD per year, compared to employees with only Bachelors degrees, who earn an average gross pay of 10,263 USD per year. It should be noted that for higher levels, education is less of a factor and individuals are gauged more on their specific skills and experience rather than a degree.
Salaries recorded the highest rise in the last 5 years
The average salary increment for the period from April 2007 to March 2008 reached 19.5% - the highest in a five-year period. To further put this increase into context, some employers have responded to economic factors such as inflation by conducting additional salary reviews over the year. Of the 206 participating companies, 61 reported conducting ad hoc salary reviews over the one-year period. Further, 91% of the companies performing ad hoc reviews reported conducting two reviews and 8.5% reported three reviews. Top reasons given for these reviews were inflation and retention concerns.
ABOUT NAVIGOS GROUP
Navigos Group is Vietnam's leading and largest Recruiting and Integrated Human Resource Solutions Provider. Our mission is to help people and organizations achieve success through excellence in matching and managing talent. We solve our clients' most critical HR challenges so they can focus on their core business.
We offer a complete portfolio of HR services, including:
- Recruitment solutions: www.VietnamWorks.com - Online Recruitment Service, Executive Search and Selection, Print Advertising, Contract Staffing
- HR Advisory: HR Consulting services include Strategic HR Solutions, HR Operational Services
- Research: Salary Survey, Vietnam Online Employment Indicator
- Online Education: www.VietnamSkills.com
More extensive information can be found in Navigos Group's Vietnam Salary Survey 2008 Report. To purchase the report, please call (84 8) 449-5433 or email at: salary@navigosgroup.com.