The daily minimum wage will be increased next week, as decided earlier by the national wage panel, but the government plans to announce a further rise in March, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Tuesday.
The cabinet acknowledged the resolution by the tripartite wage committee to raise daily rates by between 2 and 16 baht, to which the government had objected but had no authority to interfere with.
Instead, ministers are pressing for the independent committee, made up of government, employer and employee representatives, to review the way it calculates wage hikes.
From Jan 1, the daily minimum wage will rise by an average of 2.4%, to between 330 and 370 baht depending on the province. The current rates are between 328 and 354 baht.
The previous increase approved by the committee was 5%, in October 2022.
Mr Srettha earlier expressed particular displeasure with the 2-baht increase approved for workers in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. The sum wasn’t enough to buy a fresh egg, he said, adding that he expected a new and more reasonable wage rise in March.
“It’s not necessary to raise the minimum daily wage only once a year,” he said. “We will look into a more suitable new rate of setting wages by area. Hence, it could be decided on at the district level and by the type of job.”
Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said he would ask the wage committee to set up a sub-committee next month to study new wage rates for submission to the full committee in March.
The new rates would be intended as a gift on the occasion of the Songkran festival in April, he said.
The current system for setting wages, he said, took a one-size-fits-all approach. In the future, rates might not have to be the same even in the same province.
“Another investigation covering local wage rates and professional groups will conclude in March … (to determine) areas and groups that can increase wages,” the minister told reporters.
The sub-committee is expected to work out details of how such an approach could work, with input from the Bank of Thailand, the National Economic and Social Development Council, the commerce and tourism ministries and others.
Mr Phiphat promised the cabinet on Tuesday that the sub-committee would be able to submit new rates for approval by the end of March, said government spokesman Chai Wacharonke.
The ruling Pheu Thai Party campaigned on a platform that included raising the daily minimum wage to 400 baht by the end of this year and to 600 baht by the end of its four-year term.