Thai Permanent Secretary for Labour Somkiat Chayasriwong has urged all
concerned agencies to help tackle ongoing labour shortages in Thailand, adding that bringing foreign labours to fill in vacancies cannot be
done in a hasty manner.
Somkiat said labour shortages in
the country have been a problem in Thailand for more than a decade
and will exacerbate if those directly involved do not take actions.
He indicated that the shortages are not a direct result of economic
issues as the country has always been faced by the problem regardless of
the economic situation.
The Permanent Secretary also
highlighted the importance of product quality, saying entrepreneurs
should set it as their top priority in order to be able to compete with
others when the ASEAN Economic Community takes shape. However, he noted
that semi-skilled occupations in Thailand have been in dire need of
more workers.
Somkiat explained that importing migrant
workers from overseas is not the ultimate solution to the shortages as
it can only be done gradually with utmost care. He said the oversupply
of foreign labours has posed many problems in the past.
According to him, the agricultural sector is still in need of around
404,977 workers this year while 183,995 workers are needed in the
industrial sector and another 449,425 in the service sector.-VNA