Almost two million people worked in the public sector as of 2022, according to the government, which announced this year that 100,000 people would be made redundant or offered early retirement as part of the bureaucratic reforms.
Tra said so far more than 22,000 jobs had been cut, according to state-controlled news site VNExpress.
This is a “real revolution in the entire political system”, she was quoted as saying.
It is unclear if there will be further job cuts as part of the provincial mergers, or which provinces will be affected.
Vietnam’s top leader To Lam, who last year became Communist Party general secretary following the death of his predecessor, has said that state agencies should not be “safe havens for weak officials”.
“If we want to have a healthy body, sometimes we must take bitter medicine and endure pain to remove tumours,” Lam said in December.
However, there are fears the bureaucratic reforms could cause short-term chaos, with reports surfacing of logjams in provincial offices as administrative procedures slow.
Vietnam’s foreign ministry has denied any impact on the investment and business environment.
