Thailand's new wage hike acceptable to SMEs

BANGKOK, January 26 (TNA) - The Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion (OSMEP) says a latest survey found that most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand have viewed the government's new wage hike by 5-22 baht daily is acceptable to them. OSMEP Director-General Suwanchai Lohawatanakul told journalists of the survey result on Friday, explaining that a daily minimum wage increase by 1 per cent should raise the labor cost of local business operators by about 0.16 per cent on average. Suwanchai noted that the Thai government's recent decision on raising the new minimum wage hike by 5-22 baht a day or 3.4 per cent on average should, thus, increase the labor cost in the country by only 0.54 per cent on average, which is, according to his office's recent survey, acceptable to most local SMEs. The OSMEP chief pointed out that the new minimum wage hike, effective as of April 1, 2018, should also increase the prices of goods and services on the domestic market by 0.05 per cent on average, which should slightly affect local consumers. According to the OSMEP chief, the labor cost of Thailand's SMEs nows averagely accounts for about 12 per cent of their total cost, but those in the service sector shoulder their maximum labor cost of about 21.8 per cent of their total cost, followed by those in the manufacturing and trading sectors by 13.7 per cent and 9.6 per cent respectively. The OSMEP chief suggested, however, that Thailand's SMEs apply more innovations and modern technologies to their production of goods and services, along with modifying their operational approaches to enhance their business efficiency in order to cope with the global changing situation and to boost their competitiveness. (TNA)