Excerpt from article;

"The country's 24 million informal workers, including contract farmers, housemaids, and home workers, contribute about 45% of gross domestic product, said the Foundation for Labour and Employement Promotion, a network of informal workers.

The minimum wage policy was driving up the price of consumer goods, leaving informal workers struggling, said Phunsap Tulaphan, the foundation's manager.

Many informal workers were also losing their jobs to cheaper migrant workers who were paid only one-fourth of the average rate earned by Thai workers in the informal sector.

Another concern was that most informal workers had yet to register to receive benefits under the social security law that allows them to be included in the social security system.

Informal workers can contribute at two rates if they join the Social Security Fund _ 100 baht and 150 baht per month, including state contributions.

Under the first option, for example, the worker contributes 70 baht a month, with the state paying in an extra 30 baht.

Less than 500,000 informal workers had joined the social security system. Most were reluctant to do so because they doubted whether the new government would continue to pay the contributions, said Sunthari Hatthi Sengking, of the foundation. Thailand should ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention for home-based workers and the organisation's convention on domestic workers to better protect workers in the sector, she said."

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