The government will subsidise registered workers' welfare payments after the cabinet agreed to reduce their contribution to the Social Security Fund (SSF) in light of economic pressures, says the Labour Ministry.
The decision to reduce workers' contribution was among 10 measures agreed by the cabinet last week addressing the spike in cost of living prompted by increased fuel prices.
From May to July, salaried employees under Section 33 of the Social Security Act will be required to contribute only 1% of their monthly income -- capped at 15,000 baht -- down from 5% previously, in order to be covered by the welfare scheme.
Former employees under Section 39, who continue to contribute to the SSF after leaving their jobs, will see their payments lowered from 9% to 1.9% over the same period.
Non-mainstream "independent" workers who conduct small-scale trading as outlined by Section 40, such as vendors and farmers, will have their overall contributions slashed to 42-180 baht per month.
Booppa Panpeng, deputy labour permanent secretary, yesterday said the reduced contribution will free up more than 30 billion baht among SSF subscribers.