Sure people are entitled to a living wage, but they should have to be productive to get it. One of the biggest problems that Thailand has is the basic "lazyness" of the people. Many Thai industries have to employ 2 or 3 people to do what 1 person should be able to do. So now they have to have 2 or 3 times the staff that they sould have to have and everybody expects at least the minimum wage. If the productivity increased then they would have to employ less people and they would not be affected as much by the minumum wage increase. But if productivity increased and less people were required to produce the same output, then what would happen to unemployment. That would be another big problem.

I used the word "lazyness" for lack of any better word to describe that particular value of Thai society

- lazyn

+usel

Sure people are entitled to a living wage, but they should have to be productive to get it. One of the biggest problems that Thailand has is the basic "lazyness" of the people. Many Thai industries have to employ 2 or 3 people to do what 1 person should be able to do. So now they have to have 2 or 3 times the staff that they sould have to have and everybody expects at least the minimum wage. If the productivity increased then they would have to employ less people and they would not be affected as much by the minumum wage increase. But if productivity increased and less people were required to produce the same output, then what would happen to unemployment. That would be another big problem.

I used the word "lazyness" for lack of any better word to describe that particular value of Thai society

- lazyn

+usel

Very naive outlook.

You would be amazed what a buyer will eat if the increase is justified. All factories have put up prices because of this or that for years. So, mr. customer, prices go up for this or that.

Wages increases will be accepted in most of the major export businesses except textiles. But even that industry in Thailand will prove robust for specialist producers.

They should have pegged it to inflation years ago. Instead they had this stupid committee with voting where the businesses won in their own interests year after year.

One thing about the changes, I do like the abolition of the variations between provinces, and setting a universal minimum instead.

That's not to say that wages shouldn't be higher in higher-cost/profit areas/industries, just that the actual going-rate ought to be set by market-forces, with the minimum-wage itself being a safety-net minimum.

If an individual worker is unhappy with what they earn, they have the choice of moving to a higher-going-rate area (Bangkok, Chonburi or wherever), of doing overtime or going to a similar job with a better-paying employer, or they can retrain for a more-skilled/better-paid job. Some might be happier to plod along as-they-are, up to them.

The idea of having local committees negotiating was always open to corruption, and hopefully they'll be abolished, with a saving in costs. Then again, perhaps those people like the power it gives them, sitting on pointless committees ?

I don't like the idea of a nation wide rate. The province rate gave incentives to companies setting up in outer provinces, hence spreading the employment through out the country. The flat nation wide rate means that companies will move closer to ports and the larger cities where transport costs are cheaper.

I think you're assuming that companies in the capital or industrialised-areas only pay minimum-wage, surely they already pay more, in order to attract workers to a higher-cost area, and that helps to off-set lower transport-costs ? Or why do people move from cheaper Isaan to expensive Bangkok for better-paid work ?

And tax-incentives or regional-grants or start-up rent-holidays are all other ways, of encouraging employers & factories to locate in the provinces, which don't impact on the employees' wages ! The burden needn't be born solely by the employees ?

One might also expect the government, as in many other parts of the world, to relocate over-time labour-heavy administrative-functions away from the capital itself, for both financial & social reasons ?

Edited January 7, 201313 yr by Ricardo