Monday, January 29, 2007 Thailand has lower minimum pay: bizman By Joy Romares-Sevilla
AN OFFICIAL of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) revealed that Thailand has lower minimum wage than the Philippines, yet the country is economically progressive.
Chamber vice president Vicente Lao said the implementation of the minimum wage in Thailand becomes "irrelevant" because workers are paid "very well" based on their productivity.
"Businesses are coming up in Thailand and nobody is following the implemented minimum wage, everybody is paying higher than that," Lao said.
"That is what we want to happen here. We just need to increase our productivity," he added.
Lao supported the statement of Nicasio Angelo Agustin, regional director of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), that the proposed P125 across-the-board for private sector is not a solution to fix economic crisis in the country.
He believes that ideal wage requirement for each worker in every region should be proposed by the regional wage board.
Agustin said earlier that legislated wage increase is "alarming" considering that each region has different economic situation.
"In Manila, prices of commodities are higher than what we have here," Agustin said.
