Government fixes nationwide daily minimum wage at THB400 from Oct 1
The government on Wednesday gave a gift to workers on May Day by announcing an increase in daily minimum wage to 400 baht nationwide effective October 1.
Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Labour Minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn made the promise during May Day celebrations at the Lan Khon Muang ground in front of Bangkok City Hall.
The May Day ceremony was presided over by Anutin, who received the 10-point demand from the labour movement, which demanded better welfare and pay.
Anutin told the gathering of workers at the event that the government of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was giving priority to labourers and attached importance to increasing their daily wages.
Anutin said Srettha had instructed the labour minister to do anything to raise the daily wage to 400 baht, saying the policy was as important as the economic stimulus policy of handing out 10,000 baht via a digital wallet.
“So, I would like to congratulate workers nationwide in advance as they will get a minimum wage of 400 baht a day from October 1 as a gift,” Anutin said.
Pipat explained to the workers that the increase in daily minimum wage would be implemented slowly because the government must also ensure that businesses would be able to shoulder the financial burden.
Pipat said the Labour Ministry had been coordinating with employers during the past five to six months on the wage increase to ensure that the increase would not affect small and medium-sized enterprises.
Earlier, the ministry had been using a policy to increase the daily minimum wage for certain professions in specific areas, instead of raising the wage by provinces or nationwide.
On April 2, the Cabinet endorsed the tripartite Wage Committee’s decision to set a daily minimum wage of 400 baht for hotel workers in 10 tourist destination provinces. The increase took effect on April 13.
Pipat said the 400-baht rate this time would be applied across the board and nationwide so businesses that need help from the government should inform the administration first.
Pipat added that the government would later study how to further hike the minimum daily wage to 600 baht within 2027 as promised by the ruling Pheu Thai during its election campaigns.
