Bid to ease rules on hiring disabled; allowance to rise

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2013
Bid to ease rules on hiring disabled; allowance to rise

THE CABINET is expected to approve today an increase in the monthly allowance for people with disabilities from Bt500 to Bt600, starting from the 2014 fiscal year. This will require an extra Bt1 billion, according to the Budget Bureau.

In the current fiscal year, the bureau has already allocated Bt9.47 billion in disability allowances for 1.3 million people.
However, the National Economic and Social Development Board believes the government should also explore other options that would allow people with disabilities to be self-sufficient.
Meanwhile, government units and representatives of the private sector will meet today to consider a relaxation of the rules on hiring people with disabilities.
The meeting, on the sidelines of the Cabinet meeting in Lop Buri, will be chaired by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. It follows complaints from the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) that the current rules are causing problems for provincial business operators. At present, Thailand requires businesses with 100 employees or more to hire one person with a disability. If they fail to do so, they must make annual contributions to the Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. The contribution is based on the annualised minimum wage, multiplied by the number of employees with disabilities that should have been hired on a 1:100 basis.
The FTI said some business operators could not find workers with disabilities and if they could, in some cases, the workers could not perform their job required. It said it was unfair to force a contribution from these operators in such circumstances.
There are proposals that the 1:100 ratio be changed to 1:200, while giving small business operators time to adjust to the rules. Also, it is proposed that businesses unable to find workers with disabilities be exempted from compulsory contribution to the fund.
Among other proposals are: compulsory contribution by operators who do not wish to hire workers with disabilities should be half of the annualised minimum wage; and the government should waive contribution to the Social Security Fund by both employers and disabled employees.

Business operators have also asked for a waiver of contributions to the Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for the 2011-12 period.

The FTI said the 1:100 ratio was too high compared give the actual number of people with disabilities who nonetheless are able to secure employment contracts. It said compliance with this rule would drive up operating costs.
The government’s statistics show that the number of people with disabilities as of December 31, 2012, was 1.33 million, or 1.9 per cent of the total population. 
About 630,000 or 47.7 per cent of the total are in the working age group (15-60). While 560,000 showed ability to work, 330,000 remained unemployed. 
Of workers with disabilities, 48.5 per cent are in the agricultural sector; 28.5 per cent are day workers; 9.5 per cent have their own businesses; 1.23 per cent or 2,805 work for government offices; and 7.5 per cent or 17,124 have been hired by private businesses. The data showed that more than half of the people with disabilities are unemployed, while some of those who have jobs do not have insurance. 
Disability inclusiveness is part of the United Nations’ goals to reduce poverty. 
 
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