The Vietnamese government has proposed to extend its compulsory social insurance law to workers without formal employment. This would include ride-hailing drivers, delivery workers and digital platform workers with stable incomes.
To implement these changes, the government has proposed amendments to the social insurance law. The Vietnamese Minister of Home Affairs Mr Nguyen Tien Hai presented the proposed amendments to the National Assembly on 21 October 2026.
The proposed amendments aim to extend social protection to workers in emerging employment models, particularly those whose jobs fall outside traditional employer-employee arrangements.
According to a news report in Vietnamnet.vn, under the proposed amendments, the National Assembly Standing Committee would be authorised to determine which categories of workers without formal employment relationships must participate in compulsory social insurance.
The provision would cover digital platform workers with stable, regular employment and income, subject to government proposals and the country's socioeconomic conditions at different stages of development.
This approach is expected to allow compulsory social insurance coverage to expand gradually, with an implementation roadmap designed to be practical and appropriate for each group of workers. This would also help avoid immediately imposing the requirement on all gig workers and allow authorities to identify eligible categories and determine when they should be brought into the system.