OPINION

Should single people subsidise a baby boom?

Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 11/09/2013

» Many were flabbergasted last Thursday to hear reports of a suggestion made by economist Terdsak Chomtohsuwan that the government should provide subsidies to parents having their first child while introducing a tax on single people. The academic reasoned that Thailand risks future labour shortages and a population-age imbalance and will have to spend huge sums of money to support the increasing number of elderly citizens. At the same time, the number of people in employment and teenagers soon to enter the workforce is on the decrease.