Thailand to raise minimum wage

By Rodes Hagen

January 18, 2018

Bangkok, Thailand - 18 January 2018 - 
Thailand said it will raise its minimum wage nationwide for the first time in five years, as the country’s military government tries to tackle lingering income inequality, Bloomberg reported.

The wage will climb from April by between 5 baht (16 cents) and 22 baht per day, depending on location, Jarin Chakkaphark, permanent secretary for labor, said in a briefing. The revised daily range of 308 baht to 330 baht is about 2 percent to 7 percent higher than current levels.

"Wages have to rise with economic conditions -- the cost of living and economic growth in each province," Jarin said.

The minimum wage was increased for 2017 but the step didn’t apply to the whole country.

Inequality continues to pose major challenges in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy and pockets of poverty persist in the northeast, north and deep south, according to the World Bank.