Thailand faces a shortage of about 500,000 foreign workers in its manufacturing and services sectors to support an economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the government having lifted almost all virus-related travel and business restrictions
A combination of factors including civil strife in Myanmar and virus outbreaks in neighboring countries has led to fewer-than-expected people seeking work in Thailand.
Meanwhile, demand for staff is growing, especially in tourism-related sectors as well as labor-intensive industries like construction and fisheries, where Thais reject jobs because of low pay and difficult work conditions.
Photo: AFP
“This is a serious problem, as Thailand needs these foreign workers to help drive the economy,” said Poj Aramwattananont, vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. “We will need more workers going forward, because we have lots of major infrastructure projects. We also have many services-sector jobs that need to be filled.”
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is on a recovery path after enduring its steepest contraction in more than two decades in 2020. More than 300,000 foreign workers were estimated to have left Thailand since the pandemic started, with only about 20,000 having returned this year under the bilateral contracts between Thailand and some peers in ASEAN.
About 2.5 million foreign workers are estimated to live in Thailand, Department of Employment Director-General Piroj Chotikasatien said.
The government recently changed rules to enable people with Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia nationalities who are working illegally in Thailand to register and gain a pathway into the formal system.
It also extended the expiring work permits for about 1.7 million people through 2025.
As many as 500 people from neighboring countries are crossing borders every day to seek work in Thailand.
That number would soon increase to 2,000 per day, the Department of Employment has said.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
Intel Corp is joining Elon Musk’s long-shot effort to develop semiconductors for Tesla Inc, Space Exploration Technologies Corp and xAI, marking a surprising twist in the chipmaker’s comeback bid. Intel would help the Terafab project “refactor” the technology in a chip factory, the company said on Tuesday in a post on X, Musk’s social media platform. That is a stage in the development process that typically helps make chips more powerful or reliable. The chipmaker’s shares jumped 4.2 percent to US$52.91 in New York trading on Tuesday. The Terafab project is a grand plan by Musk to eventually manufacture his own chips for
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it plans to resume operations at two coal-fired power generators for three months to boost security of electricity supply as liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply risks are running high due to the Middle East conflict. The two coal-fired power generators are at Mailiao Power Plant in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮). The plant, operated by Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), supplied electricity to Taipower’s power grid until the end of last year. Taipower’s decision came about one month after Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) on March 10 said that the nation had no imminent
Some robotaxi passengers were left stranded in the middle of fast-moving traffic in a major Chinese city after their driverless vehicles stopped running, according to police and media reports on Wednesday. A preliminary investigation indicates more than 100 robotaxis came to a halt because of a “system malfunction,” police in the city of Wuhan said in a statement, without elaborating. No injuries were reported. One passenger told Chinese media that their robotaxi stopped after turning a corner. An instruction on a screen read: “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.” After no one showed up, the passenger pushed
RSS