The Labour Ministry will next week ask the cabinet to approve a fresh proposal on financial aid for another group of 800,000 workers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Labour Minister MR Chatu Mongol Sonakul.
He said these workers are not covered by the relief measures so far approved by the cabinet which are applicable only to those who lost their jobs or were suspended due to the government's order to shut down businesses to contain the outbreak.
MR Chatu Mongol said the new proposal is aimed at helping those who have also been affected by the virus outbreak but whose employers were not ordered by the government to stop operating.
The proposal will be submitted to the cabinet on April 15 and, if approved, the first payment is expected to be made on April 17 at the earliest or, failing that, April 20, he said, adding that the group will receive financial aid for three months.
People whose employers were ordered by the government to stop operating are now entitled to receive 62% of their daily wages for up to 90 days but no more than 15,000 baht a month. Initially, this group was entitled to receive 50% of their wages.
He said the ministry is working on a long-term plan to help those affected in response to an estimate that by June the number of jobless who are subscribers of the Social Security Fund will increase to 7.13 million.
Of them, 4.2 million are in the department store and retail sector, one million in construction, 978,000 in the hotel industry, 250,000 in restaurant businesses, 239,600 in spa and massage shops and 200,000 in textiles.
The assessment was made by the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Thai Industries and the Thai Bankers Association.
Suchart Pornchaiwisetkul, chief of the Department of Employment, said the department is hiring 300 people for a temporary work-from-home project during the Covid-19 crisis.
He said the applicants, who must have completed Mathayom 6 or vocational education, will be hired for a 45-day contract with daily wages of 300 baht. The scheme is part of efforts to create jobs to ease hardship.
Ratchada Thanadirek, deputy government spokeswoman, said yesterday the national committee on the elderly has agreed to suspend debt payments for those who obtained loans from the elderly fund for one year.
She said the relief measure, which takes effect from April this year to March next year, is expected to help around 41,000 debtors.
The committee has also acknowledged a report that an amount of 689 million baht is being sought from the 2020 fiscal year central budget to cover shortages in funds to pay some 4.8 million elderly who are welfare smart-card holders.