Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said yesterday Thailand should not continue to use low labour cost as an incentive to draw foreign investments and urged ASEAN countries to work together to increase their minimum wages.

 

“Low labour cost should not be the attracting point.  The attracting point should be clean energy, good international schools, good public health care system, fair capital market, zero corruption, and ease of doing business,” Sretth said during a panel discussion on “Learning from ASEAN” on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

 

While blaming low labour cost as a hindrance to the region’s growth, Srettha said he intends to discuss with Prime Minister Hun Manet of Cambodia and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on how ASEAN countries should consider hiking their minimum wages.

 

Full story: Thai PBS 2024-01-19

 

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all bets are on...

 

i say an equivalent of a shiny new 2 bht a day in all asean countries

 

what guesstimate you?

 

from the original full article

 

Quote

“Leaders of ASEAN countries should work together to lift the minimum wages to a reasonable level,” he said

 

Edited January 19, 20242 yr by Pouatchee

If only he was sincere...

Lip service is all this is.

55555555

This guy is so gone, I will miss his socks.

no thanks, i'll take lower cost of living and coruption over "clean" energy and public healthcare that I can't access.

48 minutes ago, fondue zoo said:

This guy is so gone, I will miss his socks.

He was never there

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Srettha said he intends to discuss with Prime Minister Hun Manet of Cambodia and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on how ASEAN countries should consider hiking their minimum wages.

Maybe first get a handle on the background to low minimum wages before discussions. Good read in the following May 4, 2021 article: "Minimum Wages in ASEAN for 2021, Posted by ASEAN Briefing Written by Ayman Falak Medina

https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/minimum-wages-in-asean-for-2021/

• "Minimum wage rates across ASEAN countries are rising gradually to match the region’s increased cost of living and boost domestic demand. However, due to the pandemic, many ASEAN members did not raise their minimum wages or did not raise them significantly."
• "Despite rising salaries, minimum wages in the majority of ASEAN countries remain significantly lower than those in the developed economies of the world."

He has just cottoned on that if Thailand is the only ASEAN country to raise wages it will lose out to other cheap labor countries.

Singapore is in ASEAN and wages there are appropriate for their level of development. Also, the education level is higher than Thailand.

I thought that ASEAN members were  not supposed to interfere with other members internal affairs.

That is what they say when Myanmar is mentioned

This guy must be a much greater moron than he appears to be. Within his own nation they limited the minimum wage hike to a paltry few baht a day and he's encouraging other members to raise their minimum wage? What planet is this guy living on? This is the hazard that is involved with having an ivory tower type leading the nation. This guy has no idea what the average Thai person is dealing with. To call him out of touch would be such an understatement. 

Basically he's saying "Don't compete more with us because my politics are anti business friendly and a failure". The guy is delusional.

Thailand should attract businesses moving out of China but Vietnam is currently the biggest winner by far. Thailand manages to be less attractive than a communist country for foreign businesses. It says quite a lot.

Edited January 21, 20242 yr by El Matador