Thailand

In the wake of the devastating October 2011 flood, the Thai government plans to help businesses reopen and hire through financial incentives, beginning January 1, 2012. Due to the flood, hundreds of thousands are left unemployed.

Workers in Thailand should expect a raise in the daily minimum wage by the end of 2012. The minimum wage will be raised to a flat rate of $10, a significant increase from the current daily wage of $5.20 to $7.20.

Thailand's Ministry of Labour (MOL) proposed increases to the daily minimum wage in all of Thailand's provinces. The country's Cabinet approved the proposal on December 14, 2010.

A recent survey published by the Wall Street Journal showed that blue collar manufacturing wages in China are now three times those in Vietnam.

The Thai government has recently performed a series of crackdowns on both local and foreign manufacturing facilities in the country to check for illegal migrant workers.

Recent surveys of CIOs from multinational companies in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam suggest that this trend is particularly evident in Asia.

Thailands government is moving to completely overhaul the countrys pension system. The current system is the Thai Provident Fund, which allows employees to contribute from 2% to 15% of their salary, matched by their employer.

The Thai Finance Minister, Thanong Bidaya, recently announced plans to form a new mandatory pension fund in Thailand. According to the proposal, all employees and employers in Thailand will have to contribute to the fund.

In a recent study by the World Banks International Finance Corporation, Korea ranked 105th out of 155 countries in labor flexibility. In contrast, Hong Kong was ranked 3rd, Singapore 7th, Japan 20th, and Thailand was ranked 23rd for labor flexibility.

As of this year, Thailands Bangkok Bank has begun offering mortgage loans to foreigners living and working in Thailand who want to buy residential property.

Salaries of Indian workers increased by nearly 15% in the last year, the highest in Asia. Behind India were China and the Philippines, which both saw salary increases of about 8%. Other high growth countries were Korea (7%) and Thailand (6.5%).

In an effort to encourage greater employee training and education, the Thai government has instituted a new law allowing companies to deduct up to 1.5 times the cost of training from their corporate tax liabilities.

A recent study by Mercer Human Resource Consulting found that Thailand is failing to revitalize and reform its workforce. The quality of Thailands human assets has failed to contribute to faster economic growth.

As Thai and foreign joint ventures become common, problems arising from divergent management practices are likely to become widespread. Foreign managers should consider several matters while working with Thai employees.

Foreign employers sending workers abroad must be aware of immigration issues, including laws with regard to visas and work permits. There are four different types of visas for foreigners seeking to work in Thailand.