Job training under the government's welfare and subsidy scheme managed to boost annual income for 30,000-40,000 recipients to exceed the scheme's 100,000 baht-threshold, says a senior official at the Finance Ministry.
The skill training programme helped increase the income of 1.2 million recipients who voluntarily participated in training courses, said Narumon Pinyosinwat, vice-minister for finance. The overall numbers of participants who earn above the poverty line after the training are awaiting updated data from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).
The Government Savings Bank (GSB) informed the Finance Ministry that half of the 900,000 participants earn more than 30,000 baht a year, she said.
The Finance Ministry assigned both the BAAC and GSB the responsibility of training welfare recipients who registered for the training. BAAC takes care of farmers while GSB takes charge of non-farm welfare smart cardholders.
Some 4 million out of 11.4 million recipients (excluding an additional 3.1 million registrants) of the government's assistance scheme for poverty signed up for training in return for a higher living allowance, but only 1.8 million joined the training, largely due to time constraints.
To help the remaining 2.2 million recipients who registered for the training but have not taken the course yet, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong has assigned the Fiscal Policy Office to coordinate with the Skill Development Department under the Labour Ministry and the Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Ministry to allocate their regular budget to train them, said Ms Narumon.
Job training is a part of the second phase of the government's welfare and subsidy scheme aimed at addressing the root causes of poverty, requiring recipients to sign up for skill training programmes to obtain an additional living allowance of 100-200 baht a month to buy goods at Thong Fah Pracha Rat shops, on top of the 200-300 given under the first phase.
She said the incumbent finance minister has requested tightening recipient criteria after finding some recipients of the welfare scheme are not in need of support. The ministry could require applicants in the incoming round present income documents such as tax return filings.
