Bt500 minimum wage would be disastrous
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Re: "Dhanin's suggestion ignores the small businessman", Letters, January 29.
I agree with Yingwai Suchaovanich that Charoen Pokphand chairman and CEO Dhanin Chearavanont’s suggestion (“Minimum wage should be Bt500, Dhanin says, The Nation, January 22”) that Thailand’s minimum wage be raised to Bt500 a day is anything but prudent or constructive.
Dhanin’s Bt500 proposal is not practical. It could hurt the country’s economy immediately in two ways. First, it would attract even more labourers from neighbouring countries. Second, it would drive small and medium-sized enterprises out of the borders or out of business.
The only good thing I see about this proposal is that retailing giants would have a field day. The value of their assets would double almost immediately. This of course has nothing to do with our country’s economic wellbeing.
Chavalit Van
Chiang Mai
