Unemployment benefits

Though social assistance for the poor including the unemployed had long existed in Thailand, contributory unemployment benefit was introduced as recently as 2004. As in most of countries with unemployment insurance, only private sector employees under SSF can get the unemployment benefit in return for tripartite contributions which comprise 0.5 from employer, 0.5 from employee and 0.25 per cent of wage base from government (ILO, 2008, p.1; Boon-Arj, 2010, p.12).

Details of qualifying conditions, cash benefits and responsibilities of organizations are as follows (Boon-Arj, 2010, pp.35-42).


Table : Basic information of Unemployment Benefit in SSF

 

Qualifying conditions for benefit
  • 6 month contribution within 15 months before unemployment
  • Registered with the Government Employment Service Office
Cash benefit
  • The laid-off receive 50 per cent of wages up to 180 days within 1 year
  • The voluntary unemployed receive 30 per cent of wages up to 90 days within 1 year
responsibilities of organizations
Dept. of Employment
  • Registration of the eligible unemployed workers
  • Receive benefits claim form
  • Interview, provide counseling and job placement according to qualification
  • Seek for recruitment
  • Coordinate with DSD in the case where the insured person needs skill training
Dept. of Skill Development
  • Check notification of job training of the insured person according to condition and qualification
  • Train the insured persons as needed
  • Monitor training progress
Dept. of Labour Protection and Welfare
  • Announcement of Department of Labour Protection and Welfare on how to provide information on situation of laid off employees to the Social Security Office
SSO
  • Collect contributions and maintain contribution data
  • Verify qualification of the beneficiaries
  •   Check contribution history
  •    Verify reason of employment termination
  • Order / not order benefit payment to individual bank account of insured person

 

 
Especially after the latest financial crisis since 2008, the Thai government has initiated the extension of unemployment compensation period for laid-off workers from 6 months (180 days) to 8 months (240 days) for workers who are unemployed in the year 2009 (ibid., p.44).
To streamline implementation procedures of unemployment benefit, it has been argued that the responsibilities of unemployment benefit payment, employment services and skill development for the insured unemployed should belong to one agency (ibid., p.45).
 

References

 ILO (2008), “Inter-regional project: How to strengthen social protection coverage in the context of the European Union Agenda on decent work and promoting employment in the informal economy (Thailand: A case study)”, ILO, Geneva.

*Boon-Arj, C. (2010), “Unemployment Insurance in Thailand”, Introductory meeting for ILO, Nonthaburi, Thailand, 22 February 2010.

*Original paper has not been provided for this page since administrative conditions have not been met.
 

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