Firms anxious about incoming wage hike

Firms anxious about incoming wage hike

A construction worker at BTS Bang Sue. Higher nationwide wages of 5-22 baht were approved by a tripartite committee.
A construction worker at BTS Bang Sue. Higher nationwide wages of 5-22 baht were approved by a tripartite committee.

The increase in minimum daily wages from April are a top concern for the private sector, prompting a request to the government to implement remedial measures to cushion the impact of the hike, says the Federation of Thai SMEs Association (FTA).

"We want to monitor any negative impacts, which take 1-2 months to measure, to local small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs], which are expected to be affected by the wage hike," said president Noppong Teeravorn.

"The FTA hopes the wage hike will not create huge, negative effects for the SME sector."

The cabinet in late January endorsed nationwide daily minimum wage hikes of 5-22 baht.

The highest increases will occur in Chon Buri, Phuket and Rayong.

The new hike was based on an overall inflation rate of 0.4% and the country's economic expansion.

Nonetheless, Kreingkrai Thiennukul, vice-chairman for the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said the private sector is not worried about this issue because the new wages are acceptable and were approved by the national tripartite committee.

"The FTI has agreed to the increased wages, while the maximum rate is only at 325 baht per day, which is only a slight increase from the existing 305-310 baht," he said.

Moreover, the FTI said it is not concerned about a labour shortage in the industrial sector after the Labour Ministry reported that 59,217 migrant workers were deemed to be illegal and are no longer allowed to stay in the country after missing the March deadline to register under the new labour law.

Some 1,379,252 migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos turned up at the ministry's one-stop service centres nationwide.

Of them, 1,320,035 (96%) were able to legally register, said the Labour Ministry.

There are 38 million Thais in the workforce and 3.5 million migrant workers now, mostly from neighbouring countries.

"Only 3-4% of the total migrant workers [are being deported]," said Mr Kreingkrai.

The industrial sector is being urged to upgrade machinery and other equipment to replace the labour force, helping companies reduce costs in the long run.

Suchart Chantaranakaracha, vice-chairman for labour affairs, said the government should work to solve the illegal worker problem in Thailand because the issue is directly related to human trafficking.

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