Academics are backing a national pension scheme with a monthly stipend of 3,000 baht for the elderly.
The matter was raised at a recent seminar jointly organised by Thammasat University’s faculty of economics and the National Health Commission Office.
At the seminar, a study was presented into setting up a fair and sustainable national pension system to help the elderly who face financial insecurity after retirement.
Duangmanee Laowakul, an economics lecturer at Thammasat University who was among those conducting the study, said people aged 40-59 and the elderly are vulnerable to hardship and most have failed to save money for their futures.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of poor elderly people increased and many did not have state welfare cards, she said.
A minimum monthly allowance for the impoverished elderly should be at least 2,000 baht, she said.
Under the proposed national pension system, workers outside the formal sector can save money with contributions from the government, and funding for the scheme would not be higher than budgets for the state sector pension scheme, she said.
However, the government must look for more revenue such as broadening the tax collection base and cutting down on ”pro-rich” policies, she said.
Ms Duangmanee said the proposed pension scheme should be a national priority with an agency set up to look after it while laws and regulations that hamper the process should be revised.
A database should be set up to gather and store information from those who seek monthly pensions and applicants would be required to reveal data regarding their work history, she said.
Employers should also be encouraged to hire the elderly to give them more opportunities to earn and save money to look after themselves, she said.
Decharut Sukkumnoed, director of the Think Forward Center of the Move Forward Party, said a monthly pension for the elderly should be 3,000 baht and a budget of about 420 billion baht would be needed.
With a 3,000-baht monthly pension, the number of the elderly who live below the poverty line will decline from the current 6% to 1%, he said.
He agreed the government must increase taxes to help support the pension scheme.
Elderly poverty is caused partly by debts as well as expenses incurred by illness particularly among bed-ridden patients, Mr Decharut added.