Salary increases projected at 7%

Bangkok Post (21 November 2007)

Local employees are likely to see an average salary increase of 7% this year, up slightly from 6.9% last year.

According to a survey by The Hay Group, the stronger baht has negatively affected manufacturing but has been positive for the oil and gas sector. Manufacturing workers can hope for an average raise of 5.6% while those in the energy sector can look forward to 8.5%.

Hay surveyed 117 companies responsible for almost 100,000 jobs across Thailand. It covered nine industries including energy, chemicals, retail, finance and banking, fast-moving consumer goods, professional services and more.

Boonlerd Viboonkiat, Hay's country manager, said nearly 70% of the respondents were foreign-owned companies while the remaining 30% were local ones.

The survey revealed that blue-collar workers can expect to see their salaries rise by 6.7% and middle and senior management by 7%. Employees in consumer products can hope for 7.4%, retail business 6.4% and chemicals 6%.

Overall, employees are likely to receive a bonus of 2.6 months' salary, which is lower than last year's 2.8 months and 3.3 months in 2005.

Employee turnover has also climbed this year to 9.3%, compared to 7.9% in 2006. The retail sector holds the highest employee turnover rate of 16.6%.

The average starting salary of new graduates ranges from 14,268 baht in banking to 19,173 baht in engineering.