POSITIVE OUTLOOK FOR EMPLOYEES' SALARY IN THAILAND

BY D.ARUL RAJOO

BANGKOK, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- After a year of retrenchment and salary freeze,
Thai employees can look forward to a better working environment next year as
average salary increases are expected to be higher at 4.7 per cent, a survey
shows.

Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing
company, said the market outlook for 2010 looks good and indicated a recovering
economy, compared with an average salary rise of 3.4 per cent in 2009, which was
much lower than the projected 6.8 per cent.

R. Surendran, Head of Hewitt's Rewards Centre for Southeast Asia, said the
lower average increase in 2009 was mainly due to a 42 per cent of companies
putting a freeze on salary increase.

"On the contrary, only a mere 14 per cent of companies have projected a
salary freeze in 2010.

Employers seem much more confident of a recovery in 2010 and expectedly,
salary increase projections have increased slightly from 2009," said Surendran
who revealed the findings on Tuesday.

The findings is based on the Salary Increase Survey (SIS) conducted across
153 companies between August and September.

Surendran said as the crisis that hit Thailand appeared to have eased and
recovery appeared in sight, turnover rates have thus followed suit, citing the
voluntary turnover rate in 2009 of 9.3 per cent, a slight increase compared
with 7.8 per cent in 2008.

"This is a clear indication that job opportunities in the market have
increased as employees have begun their search for better external
opportunities," he said.

Surendran, however, said the recent upturn in the economy continued to
see the impact on pay increase as companies were expected to continue to fight
for better margins through effective cost management, including pay management.

"Although employees can expect to see higher pay increase than 2009 it is
still comparably lower than those in previous years," he said.

The automotive industry, one of Thailand's largest export earner, provided
the highest increase in 2009 at an average of 6.7 per cent, said Surendran,
adding that this was possibly due to drastic cost cutting measures after being
hardest hit last year.

"As the economy and vehicle sales begin to pick up, companies are beginning
to put more