|
Bangkok Post March 22 1999 ECONOMIC SLUMP / ACADEMICS WARN SOCIAL ILLS MAY SPIN OUT OF CONTROL Survey: Poor hit hard by crisis
Vasana Chinvarakorn Penchan Charoensuthipan The average income of the poor has dropped by 25 percent since the onset of the economic slump, while the cost of living has risen by 40 percent, according to a recent survey. The findings coincide with warnings by activists and academics that rising unemployment and mounting social ills could spin out of control unless the government takes a more aggressive approach to dealing with the problems. The survey also concludes that the poor in Thailand number far more than the 11 million estimated by one state agency. Prapas Pintobtaeng, the head of the research team, said yesterday the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) had indicated the number of people it defined as "poor" had risen by three million since the economic recession began in 1997. "I think the NESDB figure is an understatement. "For example, there are 20 to 30 million farmers who owe money to the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC). It's likely many of them will not be able to repay their debt," Dr Prapas, a lecturer at Krirk University, said. The farmers' debt to the BAAC totalled 300 billion baht and has been the subject of fierce debate. Some farmer groups have demanded a debt moratorium. Dr Prapas said the differences in the figures probably stemmed from differences in the definition of "poor". The NESDB relied on the official poverty line, which was now 4,440 baht for a family of five. His study incorporated a myriad of factors, including cost of living and production and education and medical services. "For me, the poor are not only poor because they lack money. But they are poor because they lack access to and bargaining power in attaining resources." In cooperation with the Project for Ecological Recovery, the Forum of the Poor and a string of other non-government organisations, Dr Prapas last October began surveying three different groups of the poor: the slum communities in Bangkok, the rural poor, and the industrial estates in the suburbs of Bangkok Metropolis. Dr Prapas found a worrying trend of community disintegration among the rural poor. In one village in the Northeast, as many as two-thirds of the villagers had moved out permanently. On the other hand, those who had returned home found they had no land left to work since their property had been declared part of a national forest. The recent standoff between villagers in Dong Larn forest was a case in point, he said. For the urban poor, Dr Prapas found up to 57 per cent of slum residents were in debt, of whom half said they would not be able to pay back the money. On average, each household owed about 13,000 baht. Industrial workers reported similar patterns of decline in income coupled with rising costs of living. Bonuses, or lack of them, were the most common issue of recent labour disputes, and at least half of the workers' leaders had been laid off or told to stop their activities. The money workers were able to send back to their families had also dropped from an average 2,000 baht a month to about 1,500 baht. Dr Prapas proposed that the government step in to help settle the issue of farmers' debts, implement a progressive taxation system and a redistribution of land. Alternative agriculture should be a major consideration in any strategy to help the poor stand on their own feet, the academic said. Meanwhile, a Bangkok seminar was told yesterday that several government projects to tackle unemployment had flopped due to poor publicity and slow implementation. Most workers rarely learned about state projects intended to alleviate their economic plight after they were laid off, Nukul Kokit, of the Women's Friends Foundation, said. "Two-thirds of workers don't know about any government measure to help them if they are forced out of the workforce by the economic slump," he said. "During a time of soaring unemployment, workers are taken advantage of by their employers. They are forced to work hard for low wages and low welfare benefits." The unemployment situation had led to social ills, he said. A study in Pathum Thani had shown many children of jobless workers were falling into the drug trade to earn quick money. His study showed many children were forced to quit school when their parents lost their jobs and they were later lured into the drug underworld. Laid-off workers were mostly unskilled people who had many years of service, he said. These workers had no savings to support their families. He called on the government to seriously address the unemployment problem before it spread out of control, like wildfire. Ms Katja Miyer, deputy director of the German non-governmental labour organisation Friendrich Ebert Stiftung, said the economic crisis had hit low-wage workers the hardest. The economic slump, if left untackled, would lead to social crisis, she warned. Comments to: Webmaster |
| Return to SAANTI DHARMA Current Issue |
Return to SAANTI DHARMA Archive |