Five to ten per cent of Thailand’s labour intensive businesses, unable to tolerate the new Bt300 daily minimum wage, will close down in the first quarter of this year, Federation of Thai Industries’ vice chairman Taweekit Chaturacharoenkhun predicted on Wednesday.
He said labour intensive small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly in the textile, service and agricultural sectors, will be severely impacted by the Bt300 minimum wage, enforced nationwide from January 1, and that the FTI has already informed the government of what it sees as the looming consequences.
Production costs will be much higher, making it almost impossible for those enterprises to compete in overseas markets, he said, adding that the impact of the minimum wage increase will be clearly seen in the second quarter.
Those who adjust and survive will be the real “heroes” but they will have to depend less on labour and turn to technology in their production, he said.
Taweekit said some SME operators have moved their production bases to the Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam while another imminent scenario is the closure of provincial factories now that the incentives of cheaper labour cost have come to an end.
Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from
via Smaller Thai industries soon to be shaken by minimum wage requirement – The Nation.
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