Equal wage prompts Thai workers to return to hometowns

BANGKOK, January 3 (TNA) - After Thailand's new daily minimum wage hike, to 300 baht equally across the country, took effect on January 1, 2013, several workers in metropolitan areas have decided to return to work in their hometowns to save their expenses on house rent and food. Onthep Intarasut, chief of provincial labour office in Thailand's eastern Rayong Province, said on Thursday that recent surveys have found over 500 offices in Rayong are affected by the new wage hike and about 20 per cent of labourers have decided to return to work in their native provinces, as they have realized it is now unnecessary to work elsewhere, thanks to the equal daily minimum wage nationwide. Onthep asked the Thai government to come up with either financial assistance or deducted taxes to assist the affected businesses. Currently, Rayong is encountering labour shortages, but labourers’ decision to return to their hometown is expected to ease the impact. In another related development, police and immigration officials in Mae Sai District of Thailand's northern Chiang Rai Province, bordering Myanmar, are on alert with more tightened measures to prevent illegal entry of Myanmar people, especially youngsters, to work in the Kingdom after the increased wage. (TNA)