Ammar proposes Social Security changes

Economist Ammar Siamwalla yesterday called for a cancellation of unemployment insurance paid to those who quit their jobs.

At the 24th Asean Social Security Association Board Meeting (ASSA) yesterday, Ammar, from the Thailand Development Research Institute, also said that economy-stimulating measures - such as the Bt2,000 allowance to low-income workers or the elder persons' Bt500 per head per month allowance - should be temporary.

Thailand's unemployment figures remained unclear, he said. The people changing from the universal health scheme (Gold Card) to the Social Security Office's membership package on grounds that they had jobs were declining, he said. Whilst the number of those shifting back to the Gold Card scheme after losing their jobs unchanged because they were still entitled to SSO benefits for six months. Meanwhile, although many companies didn't downsize their workforces, many workers no longer worked overtime and thus earned less than before, he said.

Thailand now had insurance systems for all cases. But what must be reconsidered, Ammar said, was unemployment insurance, which pays money to all jobless persons including those laid-off and those who quit jobs on their own. Those who quit should not get this money, he said, because they did that voluntarily, they were small in number, and the money should be spent in other assistance to reduce the SSO fund's burden.

Declining to say if the cancellation proposed should be done, SSO secretary-general Pan Wannapinij said it could not be done right away because the SSO must observe the law requiring it to pay the jobless at 30 or 50 per cent of their salary. The change would have to be scrutinised by the SSO Board first and employee representatives might oppose it.

Last year, the SSO paid out Bt2.4 billion in unemployment insurance, while Bt3.9 billion was paid in such unemployment insurance in the past eight months, prompting an estimation that this year's figure could be Bt5 billion, he said.

Pan also talked about improving SSO benefits for "off-system" workers - those whose employers are not registered companies but who willingly applied for SSO membership according to the SSO Act's article 40. A proposed improvement should be submitted to the Council of State in two weeks, he said. After that it will be sent for Cabinet approval before being published in the Royal Gazette. He said the proposed draft also allowed the off-system workers, who are required to pay Bt3,360 distribution to the SSO fund per year, to pay at Bt280 a month.