Thai Govt Pays Companies To Train, Not Fire, Staff

[george]

Government pays companies to train, not fire, staff

By John Le Fevre

BANGKOK (thaivisa.com): -- The Thailand Government is offering companies that delay retrenching workers for a year generous payouts under its Tonkla-Archeep (Career Enrichment) employment development program.

So far 24 companies in Bangkok have signed up to the offer, with each receiving Bt23 million (about $US677,000) to introduce on-the-job training programs.

Labor Ministry permanent secretary Somchai Chumrat said the Government was hoping 196 companies will join the program, with almost 20,000 workers receiving training at a total cost of Bt180 million (about $US5.3 million).

Somchai said that in a sluggish economy companies should take the time to train staff, so that when the economy picks up again they emerge stronger.

Last month Narongchai Akrasanee, chairman of the Export and Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM), said, he expected the Thai economy to shrink by only four percent this year if the government succeeded in applying Bt400 billion ($US11.663 billion) of loans to restore and rebuild the economy as scheduled.

Mr Narongchai said believed that Thailand’s exports this year will contract by at least 20 per cent over 2008.

In May Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) reported that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell 7.1 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2009, with the consumer spending index (CSI) falling for the first time since the Asian financial crisis of 1997.

-- thaivisa.com 2009-07-26