FTI firms fear mass closures

WAGE HIKE

Published: 22 Jan 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: Business

A significant number of Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) members fear they may be forced to shut down their businesses because government measures are not helping them to cope with the higher minimum wage.

About a quarter of 400 firms surveyed by the FTI say they may have to close as the wage increase to 300 baht a day nationwide has pushed up their manufacturing costs by 10-12% on average.

"These companies can't afford to relocate to lower-cost countries," said FTI secretary-general Tanit Sorat.

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DonAleman
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Discussion 1 : 22 Jan 2013 at 10.231
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What has happened due to the wage increase, not fully implimented yet, is all a normal, to be expected, transition. Everybody had over a year to set new methods/machinery/creativeness in place and, most, including and especially the govt., did not. Soon enough most of the failures would, probably, have sunk to the bottom anyway making room for "the cream of industry to rise to the top ". Thailand business has, for too long, operated on the "same-Same" principle and now that that route has been blocked, have no " Plan B " !
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FTI firms fear mass closures | Bangkok Post: business