Thai government urged to offer jobs to elderly

The government should provide the elderly with jobs and better welfare, Assoc Prof Dr Uamporn Pichaisanit, a research director at Bangkok-based Thammasat University's Faculty of Economics said.

He made the call on Monday amid Thailand becoming an aging society with the rising dependant elderly.

Assoc Prof Dr Uamporn said the government needs to offer basic welfare to people aged 60-79, the number of which is as high as 8.9 million in the country and only 2.5 million of whom, or 35.7 per cent, have jobs.

Assoc Prof Dr Uamporn acknowledged surveys found that the elderly investing in their own businesses usually lacked expertise and, thus, faced high financial risks at their old age.

Besides, the surveys during 2005-2012 showed that 78 per cent of those starting up businesses when they were older than 50 years were likely to terminate their businesses within six years.

The senior academic asked the Thai government to give appropriate jobs to at least 50 per cent of the elderly who can work, as the job creation would not only increase incomes of the individual elderly, but also boost the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and the state revenues, which could be, in turn, used to support the elderly.

Meanwhile, Sutthida Chuanwan of Mahidol University's Institute for Population and Social Research, suggested that to create a quality aging society, the elderly need security in three areas, including income, residences and health.