The Evaluation on Thailand’s Retirement Saving System

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate Thailand’s retirement saving systems on three dimensions, namely, the coverage of population, the adequacy of their income after retirement, and fiscal sustainability.

          The study uses secondary data such as time series data during the years 1997 - 2016 consisting the working age population, Gross Domestic Product, old aged allowance in social security system, fiscal report data, investment and saving data. Accordingly, the study covered the population of working age for both formal and informal sectors, the adequacy of their income for basic living after retirement, and the fiscal sustainability of the country in the future. The data were analyzed in descriptive and quantitative methods using descriptive statistics, time series analysis, and simple regression equations. 

          The evaluation on Thailand’s retirements saving system shows that the system covers most part of the working population, but low participation is among informal workers and working-age people who are not currently in the labor force. For the adequacy rate 19%, most Thai people are at risk to have inadequate income to afford to meet basic needs after retirement.  The unsustainable fiscal burden on the government budget had increased an average rate 10% every year due to the increase in elderly population, thus affected the investment budget for national development and the economic system, including the preparation of balanced budgets in the future.