More Japanese companies in Thailand are implementing increased relative wage rises this year on the back of an improving economic outlook in the Southeast Asian country.
A new survey by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Bangkok shows that 26.7% of manufacturers are offering larger wage increases this year, up 8.4 percentage points from the previous year, while 25% of non-manufacturers and representative offices are doing the same, an increase of 5.6 points.
But overall wage rises among Japanese subsidiaries and other members of the Japanese chamber remain unchanged at 4-5%, in line with rates over the past five years.
Around 60% of surveyed firms in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors say they are maintaining wage rise rates, compared with those set a year before.
The percentage of firms implementing smaller pay rises this year comes to 15%, down from 30% last year.
The survey is based on data collected from 565 companies in the Japanese chamber. Over 1,700 member firms employ nearly 1 million of Thailand's approximately 40 million working population.
Kazuma Takago, first secretary at the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok, told NNA that wage hike rates offered by Japanese companies are higher and more stable than those handed out by local firms.
The Japanese chamber said annual growth rates of the nation's average wages have been volatile, registering 10.2% in 2014 but settling for 1.8% in 2015. Kyodo