Call for wage hike in high-cost provinces
Others should wait, tdri researcher says
THE MINIMUM DAILY wage should rise only in provinces with high living costs, including those popular with foreign tourists such as Phuket and Chiang Mai, a prominent researcher has recommended.
Yongyuth Chalamwong, Thailand Development Research Institute director on labour development, says he does not propose a nationwide wage increase, as he has taken into account the country’s economic gloom.
Since last year, several labour organisations have demanded that the daily minimum wage be increased to Bt360 nationwide because the wage has been frozen at Bt300 for a few years. Their calls have been getting louder as May Day is coming.
Labour Day is celebrated on May 1 every year.
The authorities have played down the calls for a minimum-wage increase, citing the country’s economic slowdown and spluttering export sector.
Yongyuth said a nationwide wage increase might hurt the competitiveness of already-struggling employers in the export sector and drive some micro-enterprises out of business. On top of this, commodity prices could increase at the expense of consumers across the country, he added.
He said a wage increase would benefit about 9 million labourers in legally recognised work systems but more than 20 million unregistered workers would suffer because of a further rise in living costs.
Although the wage increase could help raise the country’s inflation rate and boost consumption, its benefits would very likely be outweighed by its negative impacts, he claimed.
“So for this year, I believe wages should rise in just some provinces. For example, the ones that increased the minimum daily wage to Bt300 in the middle of 2012,” Yongyuth said.
Those seven provinces are Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Samut Sakhon, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Prakan and Phuket.
He said he also believed the wage increase should be possible in areas where there was a huge presence of foreigners like Chiang Mai and Pattaya.
He said these destinations might be able to accommodate the wage increase of 5-7 per cent that was proposed by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
Yongyuth suggested that workers in other areas should wait until next year to get the wage increase in response to higher living costs.
“For example, if living costs rise by 3 per cent in Mae Hong Son province, the minimum daily wage there next year should rise from Bt300 to Bt309 a day,” he said.
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