A majority of Thai workers want higher daily minimum wages from currently between 305-310 baht, according to a survey conducted by Bangkok University (Bangkok Poll).
The survey conducted during April 21-25 on 1,449 people throughout the country ahead of the Labour Day on Monday.
A majority or 65.2% of the respondents knew that the minimum wages had been increased from 300 baht to between 305-310 baht, effective from Jan 1, while 34.8% said they did not know about the increase.
A majority of 78.9% said they had been paid the new minimum wages while 21.1% said they had not.
Asked to comment on the new minimum wages, 52.8% said they should be higher; 32.8% said they suited the current economic condition and 14.4% said jobs would be more difficult to find if the minimum wages were higher.
Some 47.4% thought the wages was enough to cover their daily needs but left nothing for savings while 33.8% said they were not enough for daily expenses and 18.8% said they covered daily expenses with a little left for savings.
Asked whether they thought migrant workers from neighbouring countries would take away their jobs, 51.4% said no while 48.6% said yes.
Most of the respondents, 58.7%, said they did not know that the daily minimum wages for skilled workers would go up to between 300 and 700 baht while the rest said they knew about this.
Asked which skills should be developed by the Labour Ministry to meet the Thailand 4.0 objective, 36.3% chose culinary and beverages, followed by information technology or computer skills (20.9%) and electrical and electronic skills (19.9%).