Nearly half of Thai workers overwork

Nearly a century after adopting its first international standard on working time, a new study by the International Labour Office (ILO) estimates that one in five workers worldwide -- over 600 million persons -- stilll work over 48 hours a week, often just to make ends meet.

Among the countries surveyed, Thailand ranks third with 46.7 per cent of workers putting in more than 48 hours every week.

Globally, Peru topped the list with 50.9 per cent of workers, followed by the Republic of Korea with 49.5 per cent.

In addition, the minimum legal entitlement for an annual holiday in Thailand is also among the lowest of the Asian countries included, which at 10 days or less, is lower than the minimum legal entitlement in Cambodia, Indonesia and Viet Nam.

The new study, Working Time Around the World: Trends in working hours, laws and policies in a global comparative perspective says an estimated 22 per cent of the global workforce, or 614.2 million workers, work "excessively long" hours.

The Post Publishing Public Co

quality v's quanty comes to mind .....................

Yeah - my staff are all rostered on a 48 hr week & OT when applicable.

That said - the avg. hours worked per week is around 35 & only 75% of that I would call productive work.

Days of for no good reason, basically un-limited sick leave oportunities & more than 13 days of paid public holidays per year.

I feel the above article is mis-leading & in no way reflects the productivity of the thai work force.

It just gives all the socialist critics amunition to have a go at the business owners in Thailand.

Cheers,

Soundman.

Thailands challenge over the coming years is to increase productivity of the workforce. It has been living off the benfits of cheap labour up until now, but that no longer suffices.