The Bt300 wage policy has cost at least 3,434 workers their jobs during the past six months, according to official statistics.

The minimum daily wage was first hiked in April in seven industrialised provinces including Bangkok. The country’s 70 other provinces also saw the minimum wage rise by about 40 per cent under the government policy.

On January 1, the Bt300 wage was made official throughout the country, raising concerns that the resulting boost to production costs would lead to mass layoffs and increased job insecurity.

Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsap said yesterday that only 275 have lost their jobs during the first four days of this year.

Many more workers had been given pink slips for reasons other than the wage hike, he said. During the past six months, 3,159 people became jobless because of the financial crisis in Europe while 5,378 people were let go for various other reasons.

The Labour Protection and Welfare Department was closely monitoring the situation and would rush to help laid-off workers.

“We will assist with negotiations with employers to ensure that affected workers get severance pay as soon as possible,” he said.

The ministry found 39 businesses that appeared to be on the verge of releasing their workers because of Europe’s debt crisis and the wage hike.

via Over 3,400 have lost jobs in 6 months – The Nation.

Bt300 minimum wage attracts more migrant workers to Thailand

Thai authorities have beefed up immigration inspection along the border to prevent migrant workers from crossing illegally into the country to seek jobs after the daily minimum wage has been boosted to Bt300 nationwide.

Ranong, two miles across the bay from Myanmar’s Kawthoung, 570km southwest of Bangkok, is one of the most watched provinces, where many workers enter illegally from the neighbouring country to travel further to Phuket, Hat Yai. Surat Thani and Samut Sakhon.

Col Uthis Anantananond, deputy commander of a special 25th Infantry task force, said 44 Myanmar nationals were arrested on a long-tailed boat from Koh Song on the Myanmar border entering Thai territorial waters at Ranong, heading for Phuket.

They told Thai authorities that they paid Bt6,000 each for brokers who arranged their trip.

In Thailand’s northeastern province of Buriram, adjacent to Cambodia, Thai authorities have also kept closer watch on the entry of Khmer people.

Pol Maj-Gen Ratapong Yimyai, Buriram provincial police commander, said the province is adjacent to three Cambodian districts and there are at least 15 locations where migrant workers can make their way unseen into Thailand.