Ministry to review nod for skilled foreigners

By THE NATION

 

File photo

 

Professional bodies say enough Thais to meet local demand; Adul says govt is bound by 2001 Asean agreement.

 

UNDER PRESSURE from domestic councils representing engineers, architects and accountants, the Labour Ministry will review a recommendation that the country open up skilled labour markets to engineers, architects and accountants from other countries as required under an Asean agreement signed in 2001.

 

Labour Minister General Adul Saengsingkaew said the country’s Asean commitment is conditional upon compliance with domestic regulations governing each of the three professions.

 

Thailand’s Council of Engineers, the Architects Council, and the Federation of Accounting Professions have voiced opposition to allowing increased access to the domestic job market to skilled workers from other Asean countries.

All three professional groupings yesterday submitted their arguments against the move to the Labour Ministry.

 

No shortage in Kingdom

 

Adul said all three bodies have argued that there was no shortage of these skilled workers in Thailand with new graduates joining the labour market every year.

 

However, he said the country is committed under an Asean agreement signed in 2001 to open up these skilled labour markets to nationals of other Asean countries. In principle, he said, Thai professionals were protected by the government, but the Asean framework was also beneficial in terms of workers’ mobility and new skills which could be learned from other countries.

 

According to the Federation of Accounting Professions, Thai accountants would be disadvantaged if the domestic market is opened up to foreigners who will take over high-income supervisory jobs while leaving low-wage jobs to locals.

 

Prasert Wangratanapranee, vice chairman of the federation, said Thailand currently has about 10,000 auditors and another 60,000 professional accountants – more than enough to cover the total number of companies registered in Thailand that are required to use their professional services.

 

The federation has also asked the government to continue protecting accounting professions since there is no domestic shortage of personnel.

 

Anek Siripanich of the Council of Engineers said each of the professional bodies must be involved in the screening process for foreign nationals to work in Thailand so that they could be properly regulated.

 

Amorn Pimarnmas, secretary-general of the Council of Engineers, said the government should not freely allow foreign civil engineers to work in the country because there were potential issues around domestic public safety.

 

Regarding Asean’s Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA), Amorn said appropriate conditions and criteria must be in place to qualify foreign engineers to work in the country.

 

Foreign engineers should be required to pass examinations to get Thai licences before they can work here, while the Council of Engineers must be involved from the outset to ensure that foreigners are properly regulated, he said.

 

Anurak Tossarat, director-general of the Department of Employment, said all foreign skilled workers need to apply for licences from Thai professional bodies before they can work here.

 

The Labour Ministry has gathered input from all stakeholders to prepare the drafting of rules and regulations which will be issued by the ministry on July 1.

 

He said there should be no worries since all three professional bodies would be involved in the process of opening up the domestic skilled-labour markets under the Asean framework. All foreign nationals are subject to conditions and criteria set by Thai professional groupings to ensure that local workers are not negatively affected.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30346813

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-02

8 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

According to the Federation of Accounting Professions, Thai accountants would be disadvantaged if the domestic market is opened up to foreigners who will take over high-income supervisory jobs while leaving low-wage jobs to locals.

Why?

 

I think that the F.A.P. has mistakenly 'let the cat out of the bag'. Simply put, his view is that Thai accountants are unable to compete freely and fairly with outsiders and thus would lose out. And, he is likely in a position to know...

 

And I would assume that it is a similar situation for the other two professions.

 

Thailand, when are you going to learn? If you open yourself to outside competition, then your professional class will be required to improve their skills (good thing) and provide quality services at a reasonable price (also a good thing).

 

It is 2018; the time of hiding behind a wall ended years ago...

 

37 minutes ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Thailand, when are you going to learn? If you open yourself to outside competition, then your professional class will be required to improve their skills (good thing) and provide quality services at a reasonable price (also a good thing).

 

It is 2018; the time of hiding behind a wall ended years ago...

The Labour Ministry has not realised that yet, or more than likely not interested in doing anything about it.

 

47 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

"....all three bodies have argued that there was no shortage of these skilled workers in Thailand with new graduates joining the labour market every year".

No shortage of skilled workers? I know I am repeating the story when I say The Japanese don't agree with that. They did a survey some time back, presumably to test the availability of Thai workers for future investments. 

They came out with the dismal findings that of 67,000 vocational graduates over 10 years only 3,100 or 4.5% of them were sufficiently qualified or skilled to get a job. So much for the corruption ridden Thai education system which hands out worthless certificates to all those who simply show up for class or pay a qualification "fee".

 

 

lets hope someone can come in and teach Thais how to do electric wiring properly. 

 

I was just in a new 7,000,000 baht house for sale in Hua Hin. Not one appliance was grounded. Third ground wire just cut back and not connected to anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

46 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

lets hope someone can come in and teach Thais how to do electric wiring properly. 

 

I was just in a new 7,000,000 baht house for sale in Hua Hin. Not one appliance was grounded. Third ground wire just cut back and not connected to anything.

 

They can do it properly - but only if forced to. Regulations specify grounded socket outlets must be fitted on new installations - IIRC for at least fifteen years.

It used to be cheaper and easier to bribe the building inspector to pass the installation, than it was to earth all outlets.

Safety and money - money wins every time, unless of course someone stands over the electrician watching what he's doing.

 

Thai not have enough good workers.

But, not let others come.

It not logical!

They must get licenses.... 

The tests are going to be in Thai.. 

No doubt those calling for government protection of skilled job categories will be calling foul when other ASEAN countries don't accept skilled Thais into their labor force.  Same, same, but different 'eh?

I think there is an opening for High end watch makers in Thailand. 

6 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

lets hope someone can come in and teach Thais how to do electric wiring properly. 

 

I was just in a new 7,000,000 baht house for sale in Hua Hin. Not one appliance was grounded. Third ground wire just cut back and not connected to anything.

There cut the third wire ( ground ) off

So the electric, does not escape,  they are saving you money. 

7 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

lets hope someone can come in and teach Thais how to do electric wiring properly. 

 

I was just in a new 7,000,000 baht house for sale in Hua Hin. Not one appliance was grounded. Third ground wire just cut back and not connected to anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was trying to get the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) to open an office here but so far nothing has happened. Thinking about it it may be of little use even if they did. English is the International language and unfortunately most Thai's do not speak much English.

The idea was that they could arrange visiting speakers but again the language barrier would make it fail

Edited June 2, 20188 yr by gandalf12

46 minutes ago, connda said:

No doubt those calling for government protection of skilled job categories will be calling foul when other ASEAN countries don't accept skilled Thais into their labor force.  Same, same, but different 'eh?

At a vocational level, even professional, few Thai have the English to work abroad.

5 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

They must get licenses.... 

The tests are going to be in Thai.. 

I think this is actually correct. I really don't see Thailand writing professional exams for X amount of professions. They can write their ONETs correctly, that's a huge can of worms there.

 

Can we just say ASEAN is dead as the EU and move on?

For centuries Thailand has been narcissistically applauding itself and telling its people every single day that they are the finest nation in the world . . . . . . . 

 

the rest voluntarily deleted as it's too critical.

 

Edited June 2, 20188 yr by robsamui
editing

the problem is if Thailand allows foreign trained professionals in it will show everyone just how bad thai professional are, that goes for every profession in Thailand. You only have to look at all the corruption to see how so called accountants miss(deliberately) finding it on the books, all the building, bridges and other structures that collapse and are unsafe to see the how great the architects are, lets not even start on the building trade, everyone already knows how bad they are.  It boils down to the fact the thai standards are well below those of other countries, of course even the drivers are shocking, a thai lady in Australia  that had held a thai driving licence for 20 years has failed the aussie driving licence 10 times(not sure if she has got it yet) up until last year. Thais think they are the best but are sh*t scared other countries professionals will simply show them up because they know they are not what they claim to be, they even admitted overseas professionals would take all the top jobs from them due entirely to the thai low standards

Foreign experts are welcomed. To work for Thais for a pittance, unsure if their visas or work permits are valid tomorrow, in a country developing backwards.

 

Yindeetoonrap!

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

Foreign experts are welcomed. To work for Thais for a pittance, unsure if their visas or work permits are valid tomorrow, in a country developing backwards.

 

Yindeetoonrap!

& also to note why hasn't Thailand excepted the 2001 decission till now

Maybe it has something to do with Chinese coming in & spreading their Silk Road

Thailand's neighbors Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia have open immigrations.  Thais should be exploring these areas for better opportunities and not resisting their interest in Thailand.   Thailand possibly signed the agreement thinking it would never be forced to comply, but complying will only help Thailand, and it needs to follow through on the commitment like their neighbors have.