Panel to make decision on wage increase today

Labour Minister Chalermchai Srion said yesterday that an increase was possible given the rising cost of living and an increase in the price of daily commodities. "These factors have been supplied to the wage committee for consideration."

The committee is to start its meeting at 1.30pm and is expected to spend hours discussing the issue.

Echoing Chalermchai on the rising cost of living, the ministry's permanent secretary Somkiat Chayasriwong cited a study showing that more than 23,000 labourers surveyed were earning Bt20 less daily than they should. As such, they were leading lives that registered in negative numbers on the lifequality index, a measure used by statisticians to determine acceptable minimum incomes. The lifequality index varies in different parts of the country. It is minusBt25 in Bangkok, minusBt23 in neighbouring provinces, minusBt50.97 in the Central region, minusBt38 in the North and minusBt28 in the South, he said. [Writer says OK to cut this as the numbers are meaningless without an explanation, which was not provide by source.]

He added that efficiently controlling the price of goods was vital after the increase to daily wages was approved.

The study collected information on workers dating back to 1988 until last month, based on varying costs of living and inflation, which showed that each worker spent Bt2,015 on food, Bt1,400 on rent, Bt819 on trivial matters and Bt649 on travel per month.

The average increase in wages should be Bt20, though in Bangkok wages would only rise by Bt11, he said, adding that the increase would be Bt23 in adjacent provinces, Bt35 in the Central, Bt23 in the North, Bt13 in the Northeast and Bt11 in the South.