Thai Permanent Secretary for Labour Somkiat Chayasriwong has urged allconcerned agencies to help tackle ongoing labour shortages in Thailand, adding that bringing foreign labours to fill in vacancies cannot bedone in a hasty manner.
Somkiat said labour shortages inthe country have been a problem in Thailand for more than a decadeand will exacerbate if those directly involved do not take actions.
He indicated that the shortages are not a direct result of economicissues as the country has always been faced by the problem regardless ofthe economic situation.
The Permanent Secretary alsohighlighted the importance of product quality, saying entrepreneursshould set it as their top priority in order to be able to compete withothers when the ASEAN Economic Community takes shape. However, he notedthat semi-skilled occupations in Thailand have been in dire need ofmore workers.
Somkiat explained that importing migrantworkers from overseas is not the ultimate solution to the shortages asit can only be done gradually with utmost care. He said the oversupplyof foreign labours has posed many problems in the past.
According to him, the agricultural sector is still in need of around404,977 workers this year while 183,995 workers are needed in theindustrial sector and another 449,425 in the service sector.-VNA