A majority of Thai workers are unsatisfied with their current jobs and many see their salary as too low, says a survey from a recruitment company.
Some 62% of 4,621 Thai employees surveyed are not happy with their current jobs, while one-third said a low salary is the main cause of their unhappiness at work, noted a survey recently conducted by Jobstreet.com.
"Low income highly affects dissatisfaction at work," said Thanaporn Satitpunwaycha, country manager of Jobstreet.com Recruitment (Thailand) Co.
Only 13% of respondents were satisfied with their current salaries, while 65% of employees surveyed said they were underpaid. A mere 9% said their incomes were high enough to ensure them a happy lifestyle, she said.
Other factors contributing to dissatisfaction included having an unclear job scope, lack of skill development at work and poor relationships with supervisors.
Asked about how they planned to be happier at work, 58% said they were going to find new jobs while 37% said they spend their time off relaxing with friends or enjoying their hobbies.
"Following salary, unclear scope and job content were ranked as the main factors for dissatisfaction at work. Half of respondents stated their current jobs are boring or uninteresting," said Miss Thanaporn.
Jobstreet.com is a leading recruitment firm covering Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand. It services over 80,000 corporate customers and over 10 million jobseekers with its database.
In a related development, a survey by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce shows a number of workers, especially in the farming sector, still receive income lower than 300 baht a day despite the nationwide minimum wage hike this year.
Of the 1,126 respondents surveyed from April 17-19, 26% said they were underpaid while 35% receive the minimum wage, said the Economic and Business Forecasting Centre at the university.
Notably, 90% said that despite the higher wages they still have average debt of 98,428 baht per household, higher than 91,710 baht last year. The respondents attributed the higher debt mainly to the rising cost of living.