Jump to content

Proactive measures needed to cope with ageing society


webfact

Recommended Posts

Proactive measures needed to cope with ageing society

By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA 
THE NATION 

 

5c649e5c311cf3ba2503b4503ca25223.jpeg

An elderly woman carries broomsticks as she hopes to sell them for a living on a Bangkok street. She is among millions of Thais who get old before accumulating enough savings for a comfortable retirement life.

 

THAILAND’S labour market will stagger under the weight of its growing elderly population if it does not come up with practical solutions soon.

 

At present, more than 16 per cent of Thais are over 60 years old – the mandatory retirement age for civil servants and soldiers. In the private sector, some firms even require employees to retire at the age of 55. 

 

Such a mandatory retirement age would not pose a problem if the country still had plenty of young people working across all industries and driving the Thai economy.

 

But given the size of Thailand’s elderly population and the falling birth rate, the country needs to carefully plan for its workforce as well as for the elderly.

 

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has already warned that Thailand’s ageing society will face greater challenges than other nations as the country has less time to prepare for such a significant population shift. Thailand has become an aged society in a matter of 20 years, while other nations have up to 115 years to prepare for it. 

 

In Asean, Thailand currently has the largest percentage of elderly people. When compared with other Asean nations, the number of Thailand’s working-age citizens is also dropping at a faster rate. 

 

Current statistics suggest that the number of Thais aged over 65 will account for 13 per cent of the total population by 2020, a big jump from the current 7 per cent.

 

“The growing elderly population will affect Thailand’s economic growth,” the BOT said in its recent report. 

 

When the percentage of those aged over 60 goes up by 10 in a country, the per capita income there will slow by 5.5 per cent, according to the BOT’s estimates based on overseas cases. 

 

Since 2013, Thailand’s employment rate has fallen by 0.04 per cent a year. The drop is also noticeable in the working-age group, because women tend to leave their work to care for children, ailing family members or elderly at just 45 years of age. In other countries such as Japan, people quit the labour market after age 55.

 

Thai women who have stopped working at a relatively young age are mostly those with little education and many have not even completed junior secondary education. 

 

The BOT has recommended that Thailand should start increasing the skills of working Thais and offer them greater flexibility.

 

Such ideas have received support from many who suggest that the elderly should be allowed to work shifts with flexible work hours – not the standard 9am to 5pm routine. 

 

If Thailand does not make efforts to retain the healthy elderly in the labour market, the burden will be heavy on the country’s working people. 

 

At present, four working people practically help take care of one elderly person on average. But if nothing changes, the ratio of working Thais to elderly will rise to 1:1 by 2031.

 

It must also be noted that Thailand will become a hyper-aged society by 2035. This means if the country does not create mechanisms or opportunities for the elderly to contribute to the labour market and the economy, it will face big challenges.

 

Reports suggest that most Thais are prone to ageing before they have set aside enough savings for their post-retirement lives.

 

Even though the state now offers a monthly subsidy of at least Bt600 for every elderly Thai, that is by no means enough for survival. 

 

Besides, the country’s labour market needs staff to run business operations. Without a ready workforce, investors will be reluctant to put their money in Thailand. 

 

So, it is high time that all relevant sectors start giving serious thought to empowering the elderly for the labour market. The move, after all, will benefit not just investors or business owners but also the elderly and the country itself. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30361512

 
thenation_logo.jpg
-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-01-03
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, webfact said:

millions of Thais who get old before accumulating enough savings for a comfortable retirement life. 

Not so strange: millions of Thai have to live with the minimum wages and the government expect them to save from those minimum wages also for their retirement?

Retirement now can be 30 or more years and to live that period without income you need a lot of money!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, webfact said:

savings

dont  know  many who save anything at all..........maybe its  just me but Ive always  saved, even in the Uk many when I was young had  no savings, spent  the  lot. Could never  understand why apart from peer  pressure to have the latest whatever.

Young  kids want it  all and its  just doesnt  work  like  that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, RotMahKid said:

Not so strange: millions of Thai have to live with the minimum wages and the government expect them to save from those minimum wages also for their retirement?

Retirement now can be 30 or more years and to live that period without income you need a lot of money!

You most definitely  CAN save from minimum wages, my Wife  did it, I met her when she was 29 and out of her 10 siblings she was the ONLY  one who had saved  money, it was  about 250000 baht.

She started work at 14 doing more than 1  job and put herself thru   night school and also learnt English for free at the temple to get a better job.

That said when I met her she was  earning 11000 baht a month in 2006.

She  did  not have her own room to live in without sharing  until she was 28.

The real problem is people want everything "now"and are LAZY with no self control.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Multiple manifestations of a plethora of problems. 

 

A gross oversimplification would be something like 

 

Most Thais don't earn enough;

partially because most are not very useful; 

in large part because they have been purposefully kept fairly useless by their 'betters' 

 

Finding a root cause is tricky. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A problem not confined to Thailand,and one which will continue it's upward curve,better diets,look how much taller young teenage Thai's are due to more dairy consumption ,better medical advances ,falling birth rates in much of the world[at last], many countries worldwide are in a similar position, Thailand as a developing country of course does not have the money [well if they were not spending on obsolete submarines] to cope well with this,but one thing in the countries favour is the still strong extended family,though as the country modernises and young people are forced to move away for work,this too could come under pressure in coming years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

what did the west do wrong 60 years ago ?  give a pension to everyone even they never contributed ...  for that, they need the SCAM that young people have to work and pay the pension of a generation that did not contribute much... people getting older, less jobs (automation) and the west then thought, great, let's import muslim workers, they are young and f like rabbits...they will work for our pension, right... except, they are master in taking the social benefits (free housing, free unemployment or social security money) and hardly work...  japan also needs people to work, but they deceide not to import 500.000 farangs as they do not want to be invaded by a foreign culture ....   back to thailand...so shortage of people with education as always... uni students complaining that don't want to learn 500 english words ....  we have a bunch of expats who would love to give some of their time to help, but the whole crap stuff you need to work legal is just not worth it....

 

alzheimer problem, well people, believe it or not, that is STATIN induced... and all the other chemical pills you people take for diabetes (sugar intolerance) etc... blood pressure, heart problems, obesity ...

 

big pharma is happy, that most of you don't think to much about the side effects

 

except they will ruin the country in medical expenses and only with brainwash techniques & lobby & buying politicians like they do in USA,  can they now even FORCE vaccines onto you, never proven via clinical trials to be safe or even better than placebo ... but CDC said.... cdc has patents on vaccines and so profit also from forcing you, land of the free , lol...  healthcare is not free, education is not free, fighting some wars in other countries is certainly not free...

 

everybody believes what they want... if governments would invest in PREVENTION instead of wasting money on sick  care, and people will stay healthy longer, work longer , costing less, nahhhhhh, let's ignore all that...for all symptom, your MD will have a pill to make you feel better and change nothing in your life that is causing all those problems

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...