AEC News-May 28
In response to increasing demands from foreign and domestic business owners over a shortage of suitable labour the Thailand government is set to reduce the number of occupations prohibited to foreign workers.
The easing of restrictions highlights key industry sectors now beginning to be hurt by labour shortages as the Thai economy breaks into a gallop, jeopardising the country’s ability to fully embrace its much touted Thailand 4.0 policy and sustain the recent momentum.
Low-, semi- and skilled vocations are included in those set to be opened to foreign workers after publication of a ministerial regulation in the Royal Gazette, expected on July 1 .At the higher end of the skilled scale civil engineering, architectural (except work which shows Thai identity, culture or art) and accountancy (except internal auditing) positions will be able to be filled by foreign workers. To ensure no project goes unbuilt restrictions on bricklaying, carpentry, and ‘other construction work’ will also be eased.
At the lower end of the occupation scale ‘jobs without specialized knowledge’ such as laboring, agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry or fishery work will also have their bans lifted, as too will making mattresses or quilts, and knife making.
All up a total of 12 occupations have been removed from the black list, leaving 28, including driving vehicles, front of shop sales, hairdressing, tour guides, and golf caddying still prohibited to foreigners,
The lifting of the 12 occupations was announced late last week by Anurak Tossarat, director-general of the Department of Employment (DoE), who said the recommendations came after consulting a number of industry groups and professional bodies, in addition to information gathered through its own website.
Thousands of Jobs Vacant as Economy Steams Ahead
Just last week Labor Minister Police General Adul Sangsingkeo ordered relevant units to find a quick solution to a shortage of more than 42,000 workers in Thailand’s fishing and seafood industrie, 42,000 job sit vacant in the Thailand seafood and fishing sectors alone
In good news for the government the Thai economy grew by 4.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2018, its fastest growth in five years.
With revised 2018 Thailand GDP now put at 4.7 per cent, the rapid increase in economic activity is highlighting deficiencies across the board, particularly in labor-intensive industries.
However, with the exception of large companies, few others will be able to avail themselves of the external expertise the lifting of restrictions could provide.
While the government’s highly prized Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) provides exemptions to a newly implemented cap on foreign employees, the same privileges are not available for Thailand’s three million SMEs.
Employing some 11 million people, about ten million of who are foreign workers, the current 25 per cent ratio limit of foreign workers is, according to Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) chairman Supant Mongkolsuthree, a “critical obstacle” to nationwide growth.
As part of efforts to combat human trafficking and bonded labor the Thailand government has been attempting to document every foreign worker in the country.
Between February 5 and March 31 Thailand registered and verified 961,946 migrant workers, with a further 360,222 registered, but waiting to complete document verification process.
Since reopening the One Stop Service Centres (OSS) on April 23 more than 190,000 foreign workers had been verified up to May 22, with 170,000 yet to complete the process.
