The shambolic registration of self-employed and independent workers who are eligible for the state's 5,000 baht in aid payments for three months to help relieve the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak reflects the country's poor data management and demands a fix.
Originally, the government capped the number of cash handout recipients at only three million people. The figure was derived from state workforce data.
According to the data, the country has a total workforce of 38 million people. Of these, two million are state officials and 11 million are blue and white collar workers covered by the social security system. Both groups are excluded from the 5,000-baht relief package.
Of the remaining 25 million people, 17 million are ineligible because they are farmers who can receive assistance in a separate scheme. As a result, there remain, in principle, eight million people who are self-employed and independent workers who can gain access to the package.
However, the government found that of the eight million people, five million voluntarily contributed to the Social Security Fund as insured people under Article 39 and 40 of the law, so they are theoretically excluded from the 5,000 baht giveaway.
The final figure then fell to only 3 million.
Unfortunately, after the government opened registration for the financial aid, the number of applicants rose to above 10 million people in one day and skyrocketed to 25 million in a week. The figure of total applicants has ended up at 28.8 million.
With such an unexpectedly high number of applicants, the government initially expanded the scheme to cover nine million but the cabinet last week decided to extend the help further to cover 14 million with a total budget of 210 billion baht.
During the application period, a large number of complaints arose from those who were screened out by AI. Many of them were categorised as "farmers" while in fact they earn a living as taxi drivers. Others were independent workers.
Worse, it was found some state-enterprise workers who were supposed to be disqualified were granted 5,000 baht in aid. The government decided to allow disqualified applicants to appeal.
The mess demonstrates the problem of state data management, not to mention big data development.
How come the number of qualified applicants who are eligible for the 5,000 baht aid sprang from three million to 14 million if the figure is based on official state data?
Thailand has a unique way of defining employment and unemployment.
Agriculture is the key sector that absorbs the majority of labourers. During the planting season, farmers are occupied but, in the dry season, many members of farming households will leave farms to work in urban areas, earning a living in various jobs including driving taxis, working in factories, and as street vendors.
At the same time, some people who are members of farming households but do not work in farms at all are still categorised as farmers because the Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Ministry takes a family as a registration unit.
Without clear and effective data, any welfare and economic policies implemented by the government could go to the wrong people, while those in need unfairly miss out.
Those involved must keep in mind that population data reform and big data development are critical to ensure the efficiency of budget expenditure.