Average Tet bonus is $288 this year

The average bonus to be paid by wholly state-owned companies is VND6.12 million ($264), the same as last year, according to a report by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs following a survey of 25,000 companies and 3.15 million workers in 40 provinces and cities.

Domestic private enterprises will pay VND6.27 million ($270), up 0.5 percent, while foreign businesses will pay VND6.91 million ($298), up 11.1 percent.

Around 85.6 percent of companies also reported they paid a bonus to their employees for the Gregorian New Year. The average was VND930,000 ($40), or equivalent to only 73.2 percent of last year’s figure.

In Vietnam, bonuses are agreed between employers and workers, but the government encourages rewards based on performance.

Tet, the Lunar New Year festival, falls on January 25 this year.