Can Thailand afford to raise minimum wage to 600 baht?

[snoop1130]

 

The Pheu Thai Party has made a big election promise: if it becomes the ruling party next year, Thailand’s minimum daily wage will rise to 600 baht by 2027. The election pledge has divided opinion and sparked a heated debate on whether this promise is reasonable or will open a can of worms.

 

“Our policy to raise the daily minimum wage to 600 baht will be implemented as the Thai economy grows,” said Paetongtarn Shinawatra, in her capacity as chair of Pheu Thai’s committee on public participation and innovation.

 

Paetongtarn, the youngest daughter of fugitive former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, also heads the Pheu Thai Family.

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/can-thailand-afford-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-600-baht/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-12-14

 

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[ikke1959]

Yes they can, but they don't want... If they made a fund of the 45.000 million THB of the licenseplate auction, there is plenty of money to do

[billd766]

It is actually 50 baht per person, per day, per year.

 

In addition when people earn more money they tend to have less debt.

 

The government gains, because people have a bit more money to spend so VAT income increases, as does the number of people who pay tax.

 

The people who don't gain are those multi billionaires who have more money than they can ever spend in their lifetimes.

[RichardColeman]

11 hours ago, billd766 said:

It is actually 50 baht per person, per day, per year.

How'd you work that one out ? 

 

Raising it to 'daily' 600 , when current is 300-350 ? 

 

link - The current minimum wage in Thailand ranges between 328 and 354 baht depending on location.

[Scouse123]

12 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

 

In addition when people earn more money they tend to have less debt.

 

 

 

 

Are you serious?

This is Thailand we are talking about here.

[Scouse123]

They can raise it to what the want but up here ' in the sticks '  the Thais agree beforehand how much for labour and pay what they want and if it isn't acceptable they don't get the job.

 

In the big cities and resorts, all this will lead to is Thai owners employing more Cambodians, Laos and Myanmar nationals because they just won't pay these rates and the Thai employers are open about it and say their own people are unreliable and by and large, just not worth the money.

 

I have a couple of older guys that help me up here and are decent men who get the task in hand done and turn up on time, I pay now 500 baht a day plus food and it's worth it to me.

[Scouse123]

And we all know what election pledges and headline grabbing statements mean in reality when spoken of by politicians regardless of the country.

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, Scouse123 said:

In the big cities and resorts, all this will lead to is Thai owners employing more Cambodians, Laos and Myanmar nationals because they just won't pay these rates and the Thai employers are open about it and say their own people are unreliable and by and large, just not worth the money.

I agree... it can be seen already with current wage levels so to increase the minimum will cement the approach in. Many restaurants near to me now have few Thai fluent staff!

[Henryford]

Thai employers simply wouldn't pay it. My tgf has had problems even getting a job paying the current 300 a day.

[digger70]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

How'd you work that one out ? 

 

Raising it to 'daily' 600 , when current is 300-350 ? 

 

link - The current minimum wage in Thailand ranges between 328 and 354 baht depending on location.

They say THB328 and THB354 that's Incorrect. 

Down here in the 7/11 shops it's THB 200  a day for long Hours that's THB 5000 for a 25 day Month. 

[Boomer6969]

Ridiculous, 600 a day? That's 15k a month with a 6 days week. Should have been given 10 years ago. 

[itsari]

Cant afford not to pay 600 baht  as a minimum wage

[dpcjsr]

Typical communist thinking. Raise the minimum wage to look. Many employees lose their job as employees cannot afford this. Rinse. Repeat. Then eventually robots will take the place of these employees and they will have no job. This has already happened to many jobs in the US in such commie states as California. A moments thought about where this extra wage is going to come from would be brilliant...inflation...but it makes the politicians look like they care. 

[tomazbodner]

In my opinion - yes, Thailand could afford it. But... instead of making lives of labourers easier, it will only lead to more import of labour from neighbouring countries, willing to work illegally for less.

 

So all in all, Pheu Thai will be able to claim they've increased people's wages, but the real effect will be that these people will lose their jobs to illegal foreigners.

[lujanit]

I doubt the Cambodian street sweepers in our village get anywhere near 300 baht a day each.  Maybe 300 split between the two of them.  They are fortunate that this is a large village (over 250 houses) and that a number of residents regularly give them food.

[Lucky Bones]

Another army helicopter just flown over Pattaya.

The money is going somewhere, just not to those who need it.????????

[billd766]

4 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

How'd you work that one out ? 

 

Raising it to 'daily' 600 , when current is 300-350 ? 

 

link - The current minimum wage in Thailand ranges between 328 and 354 baht depending on location.

If you read the "other" newspapers Opinion page it has an interesting article which I cannot quote from.

[micmichd]

2 hours ago, Henryford said:

Thai employers simply wouldn't pay it. My tgf has had problems even getting a job paying the current 300 a day.

That's exactly the reason why a legal minimum wage exists. 

[billd766]

Out here in rural Kamphaeng Phet, I paid 2 guys 1,500 baht between them to cut all my grass and scrub. It took them 2 days but they did miss several bits and they did not work 8 hours in the day.

 

I consider myself lucky to even get somebody to cut the grass and scrub in the first place.

 

 

[lapamita]

Thais, are overpayed for most time , in real jobs.  Their skills are low, their productiviity is low. I see nealry no  upgrade in skills and productivity in the lower class workforce over last 20 years.

...and for the rest of thailand salary are already quiet reasonable.

The only group underpayed maybe agriculture worker ,but thats a worldwide phenomen.

The slaarys in Thaialnd in comparsion  to other emerging countrys , are already on the upper end

[Tarteso]

Here in North Chiang Mai, is difficult to  find a farm worker to cut grass, they  won’t move a finger for less than 700. As #Billd766 says, they Don’t works 8 hours…BTW, Immigrants do the jobs better than my lazy Thai worker.

[pegman]

4 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

They can raise it to what the want but up here ' in the sticks '  the Thais agree beforehand how much for labour and pay what they want and if it isn't acceptable they don't get the job.

 

In the big cities and resorts, all this will lead to is Thai owners employing more Cambodians, Laos and Myanmar nationals because they just won't pay these rates and the Thai employers are open about it and say their own people are unreliable and by and large, just not worth the money.

 

I have a couple of older guys that help me up here and are decent men who get the task in hand done and turn up on time, I pay now 500 baht a day plus food and it's worth it to me.

Easy solution. Change the law to allow employers of illegals to be criminally charged. Then put the Big Joke in charge of rounding them up. I remember after the last coup the Greens announced their plans to do something  similar. Within a week all the migrants had left the country. High-rises in my neighbourhood under construction we're completely deserted.  It took some powerful interest to get them to change course and months before all the migrant construction workers came back. 

[Neeranam]

4 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

Are you serious?

This is Thailand we are talking about here.

Which why I, and many others, prefer living here. Not as bread-headed as the West. 

[Neeranam]

It makes no difference what the minimum wage is, the richer people will continue to pay below it. As usual, the Shiniwat family are focusing on the poor people for votes as the more educated can see through their scams like giving free phones to people then milking them for services. The poor will vote for the "possibility" of extra money as they are desperate, even willing to ignore the 1000s of extrajudicial killings by the clan. 

I used to teach this entitled brat, who arrived in a brown Bentley (bought with money her father got by crashing the economy when he was Finance minister or Dept PM to "Banhan' the most corrupt PM ever or 'Big Jew') when she was at school in Bangkok around 1997.

[Hanuman2547]

4 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

 

I have a couple of older guys that help me up here and are decent men who get the task in hand done and turn up on time, I pay now 500 baht a day plus food and it's worth it to me.

 

Other than supplying food, that's the rate I just paid last week to have some work done around my house here in Bangkok.  I supplied the paint for the paint job and any other tools that were needed.  For some other jobs they brought their own equipment.  

[spidermike007]

1. Even if the laws are passed, will the government enforce it, and hold bad employers to account? 

 

2. Will they continue to refuse to grant Burmese, and other foreign workers the same protections afforded to Thais? 

[newbee2022]

17 hours ago, billd766 said:

In addition when people earn more money they tend to have less debt

Only theory.

In reality just the opposite.

[Neeranam]

Just now, spidermike007 said:

1. Even if the laws are passed, will the government enforce it, and hold bad employers to account? 

 

2. Will they continue to refuse to grant Burmese, and other foreign workers the same protections afforded to Thais? 

No, they won't. 

 

Despite the Thai Constitution only being for Thais, there are laws for foreign workers and they DoL usually give them equal treatment. The problem, however, is that influential people that hire them often have relatives/friends in the Dept. 

 

[Lorry]

4 hours ago, digger70 said:

They say THB328 and THB354 that's Incorrect. 

Down here in the 7/11 shops it's THB 200  a day for long Hours that's THB 5000 for a 25 day Month. 

Do you believe this?

[Gknrd]

They won't have a choice, the demographics in Thailand are horrible. As the working class shrinks the wages will go up. Just supply and demand economics.  

Same with China, their population is aging at a rate that wages have increased 6 fold in the last few years.  China is terminal.  

So 2027 is a statement made by the party because they know it will happen anyway.  Or in that general time frame. 

You are having re-shoring  from China to Thailand. The work force will be eaten up pretty quick.  It is a blue collar boom for the next 10+ years.

You will see that same thing in Thailand that is happening in China now. Work force will keep shrinking and local demand will decrease, wages will go up. 

At that point you will see manufacturing start to head out to other places.

There is not much the leaders can do about it at this point.