Vietnam's Politburo issued a new directive to cut an additional 5-10% of the public workforce, upwards of 200,000 positions, through 2031, Bao Chinh Phu reported June 10. The decision directs future cuts to target redundant offices, lower-performing personnel and functions that can be consolidated or digitized, rather than applying a uniform reduction across the board.

The decision follows Vietnam's historic 2025 administrative overhaul, which merged central ministries, reduced provincial-level jurisdictions from 63 to 34, abolished district-level administration and has so far reduced the public workforce by around 145,000 positions. Hanoi is now moving from the initial merger and downsizing phase into a longer implementation period focused on making the party-state more responsive to the central government's policy priorities.