Cabinet delays Bt15,000 pay raise for graduates
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The proposed blanket pay raise to a standard Bt15,000 salary for civil servants with a bachelor's degree cannot be paid immediately, a government spokesperson said yesterday.
Such a pay hike in one stage would require Bt50 billion annually and affect the salary scales of private businesses, he said.
Anusorn Iamsa-ardn said reports about the Cabinet decision on Tuesday postponing the raise to a standard Bt15,000 salary for the next two years were not wholly true. Many government officials had already received pay on top of their salaries which had lifted their monthly income to Bt15,000 since January.
The promised blanket Bt15,000 pay hike, which would be in effect by 2014, would be a whole salary increase at entry level, without other pay included, he said.
Government officials with degrees lower than bachelor's level had been paid Bt9,000 since January, as promised under the Pheu Thai-led government's populist policies.
"The blanket raise to Bt15,000 has to be done in two steps. An immediate and widespread pay increase for government officials and employees in private businesses would affect the entire domestic employment scene and would lead to private firms losing their [attraction for] new graduates [with bachelor's degrees]," he added.
