Workers’ skills being evaluated as Thailand seeks to export skilled workers to Saudi Arabia

[webfact]

 

By Namo Vananupong

    

BANGKOK (NNT) - The skills of Thai workers who want to work abroad are now being rapidly assessed, especially for occupations that are in urgent demand by foreign employers. This effort comes in response to the government’s policy to send Thai workers to Saudi Arabia.

 

Department of Skill Development Director-General Prateep Songlumyong inspected the KTC Skills Testing Center in Lam Lukka district of Pathum Thani. The inspection was aimed at making sure Thai workers will be ready to be sent to Saudi Arabia. The Department of Skill Development has been assigning testing centers for occupations in need by employers. Examples of such occupations are engine mechanics, electricians, construction technicians, cooks, hotel personnel, logistics coordinators, and truck drivers.

 

Getting tested at a skills testing center improves work opportunities and career progression for each worker. Employers of tested workers can be confident the individuals are knowledgeable and their skills fit the job position.

 

KTC Skills Testing Center is used to evaluate the skills of job seekers who wanted to work abroad. The center is able to evaluate the skills of 24 occupations in the categories of welders, electricians, auto mechanics and construction technicians.

 

People who are interested in working in Saudi Arabia can register on the Department of Employment’s website. They may also call the Ministry of Labor’s hotline number 1506, and press 2.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2022-02-15

 

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[Willy Wombat]

Round ‘em up

Ship ‘em out

Rawhiiiide .

????????????????????????????

[herfiehandbag]

Now you may call me an old cynic, or possibly someone who "think too mutt" but the flush of enthusiasm and activity for "exporting workers" to Saudi Arabia raises, for me, a couple of points.

 

There is obviously a lot of money, or potential money involved, passing through the hands of both officials and private contractors. The profit potential, at all levels, suggests to me a reason for this enthusiasm. 

 

Secondly, the whole venture depends upon a steady flow of "volunteers". If that falters then the money flow falters. I can but wonder what commitment - perhaps not fully understood at the time - "registering an interest" may involve. Will there be any form of draft eventually, maybe by way of repayment for vocational training schools? Something along the lines of " two years in vocational school is followed by the choice of two years in the Army or two years if suitable in Saudi Arabia? Maybe farfetched, perhaps, but if there are quotas to be met...

Edited February 15, 2022 by herfiehandbag

[RafPinto]

Which skills?

 

Massage

Bars

Taxi drivers.

 

All very skilled.

[The Hammer2021]

11 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

Now you may call me an old cynic, or possibly someone who "think too mutt" but the flush of enthusiasm and activity for "exporting workers" to Saudi Arabia raises, for me, a couple of points.

 

There is obviously a lot of money, or potential money involved, passing through the hands of both officials and private contractors. The profit potential, at all levels, suggests to me a reason for this enthusiasm. 

 

Secondly, the whole venture depends upon a steady flow of "volunteers". If that falters then the money flow falters. I can but wonder what commitment - perhaps not fully understood at the time - "registering an interest" may involve. Will there be any form of draft eventually, maybe by way of repayment for vocational training schools? Something along the lines of " two years in vocational school is followed by the choice of two years in the Army or two years if suitable in Saudi Arabia? Maybe farfetched, perhaps, but if there are quotas to be met...

Up till the Blue Diamond Affair Thai workers were very common in Saudi and remitted millions of much needed baht back to Thailand. People who think this is a new phenomenon are ignorant of the expat Labour Market which is massive in the middle east. The loss of this source of income has been very damaging for Thailand over the last 30 years. The recent changes are to be welcomed.

[The Hammer2021]

1 minute ago, RafPinto said:

Which skills?

 

Massage

Bars

Taxi drivers.

 

All very skilled.

This assessment is a reflection of your ignorance and limited understanding of the Thai economy.

[RafPinto]

Just now, The Hammer2021 said:

This assessment is a reflection of your ignorance and limited understanding of the Thai economy.

Amen

[bbko]

7 minutes ago, RafPinto said:

Which skills?

 

Massage

Bars

Taxi drivers.

 

All very skilled.

I was going to add 7-11 workers, but some here don't have a sense of humor.

[Sing Leo Vine]

I would love to bring some skilled meat industry workers into the UK. 

As would most of Scandinavia. 

No it not a pun.

Many industries short now, not just the white collar, degree educated, ones.

I would of course pocket a few Bob.

[The Hammer2021]

12 minutes ago, RafPinto said:

Give me one company in Europe of States which would recruit someone, graduating from a Thai university.

The USA has a busy slave labour market fed by undocumented Mexicans. It doesn't need Thais.

The Saudis are experts in labour force management and recruitment.

The USA government is not capable of doing what the Saudis do. It relies on illegal, undocumented workers.

[RafPinto]

Just now, The Hammer2021 said:

The USA has a busy slave labour market fed by undocumented Mexicans. It doesn't need Thais.

The Saudis are experts in labour force management and recruitment.

The USA government is not capable of doing what the Saudis do. It relies on illegal, undocumented workers.

How many of the Thais are or were illegally in Europe, Dubai, States, South Korea etc.....

 

You know what I mean.

[The Hammer2021]

3 minutes ago, RafPinto said:

How many of the Thais are or were illegally in Europe, Dubai, States, South Korea etc.....

 

You know what I mean.

I know you deflected a thread about Saudi  Labour recruitment to promote your Thai bashing agenda.

[Rimmer]

An off topic post has been removed

[EVENKEEL]

I'm thinking if I was a Thai guy working for low wages I'd think about this offer. They will probably make at least double maybe triple wages in Saudi. I'm just curious about the reason Saudi wants Thais when they have a steady supply of workers from India and probably Pakistan who I'd bet do and would work cheaper.

[poohy]

About 25 years ago my "mate"   in Dudley had a small caravan site with one van filled with 5 Thai ladies supposedly working at a nearby Thai restaurant

Surprisingly there wasn't one (i dont even think there is one today)

It remains a mystery to this day!!

Edited February 15, 2022 by poohy

[Rimmer]

A troll post and reply removed

[Al BB]

1 hour ago, herfiehandbag said:

Now you may call me an old cynic, or possibly someone who "think too mutt" but the flush of enthusiasm and activity for "exporting workers" to Saudi Arabia raises, for me, a couple of points.

 

There is obviously a lot of money, or potential money involved, passing through the hands of both officials and private contractors. The profit potential, at all levels, suggests to me a reason for this enthusiasm. 

 

Secondly, the whole venture depends upon a steady flow of "volunteers". If that falters then the money flow falters. I can but wonder what commitment - perhaps not fully understood at the time - "registering an interest" may involve. Will there be any form of draft eventually, maybe by way of repayment for vocational training schools? Something along the lines of " two years in vocational school is followed by the choice of two years in the Army or two years if suitable in Saudi Arabia? Maybe farfetched, perhaps, but if there are quotas to be met...

 

16 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

I'm thinking if I was a Thai guy working for low wages I'd think about this offer. They will probably make at least double maybe triple wages in Saudi. I'm just curious about the reason Saudi wants Thais when they have a steady supply of workers from India and probably Pakistan who I'd bet do and would work cheaper.

I believe they are short of immigrant workers. They have (or Did Have ) the KAFALA system, which meant that workers needed a sponsor in KSA. Good Luck to them that go! And don't start thieving if you want to keep both your hands!

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, The Hammer2021 said:

This assessment is a reflection of your ignorance and limited understanding of the Thai economy.

Perhaps true, however I'm wondering just how these areas of knowledge and skill (diferent aspects) are being assessed. 

 

Further I'm wondering what levels of English language capability is being prescribed (ability to read and comprehend instructions etc., and two way convesation abilities). Could be wrong but I'm standing by for the announcement that the sector of workers to be offered* positions abroad who need good English language capabilities will be given a 10 day crash course whereupon they will be capable of high levels of English language.

 

(*Perhaps this is being handled differently but I recall in the past several incidents of Thai members of my outer circle family / friends etc., going to apply for a job abroad - apply at a commercial job agency, not at a gov't., office and withdrawing quickly when they realized they were instantly labelled as robots who aren't allowed to ask questions, expected to sit on the floor in perfect lines for hours and not allowed to talk, not properly provided with food or water and ushered like sheep onto an aircraft with little further information of what was ahead and not allowed to ask.

 

As a specific example (decades ago) my Thai DIL's elder brother went to Saudi and was horiified at the conditions, the need to repay more and more unknown expenses of getting there, inability to talk to anybody to get out, eventually did come home but with unpaid expenses still hanging over his head, and no savings.

 

Plus whilst in Saudi, spoken to like to dog, lack of food, very poor living conditions etc., and had been beaten a couple of times.

 

After several years back in Essan he found an advertisement for work in Brunei, he checked the details and contacted several people nearby who had worked in Brunei and was convinced it was not like his Saudi experience.

 

He went to Brunei, instantly - known in advance - into a free English language conversation class and on salary, no yelling, no beatings, nothing like that, quite good living conditions, welcome to ask questions, seek advice etc.

 

He stayed for about 8 years with a home visit every 10 months subsidised  by his employers, came home with a quite large amount of cash, built a nice home, new car, enough funds put aside for better/further education for his kids who were by this time just finishing high school).     

[jaideedave]

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

I'm thinking if I was a Thai guy working for low wages I'd think about this offer. They will probably make at least double maybe triple wages in Saudi. I'm just curious about the reason Saudi wants Thais when they have a steady supply of workers from India and probably Pakistan who I'd bet do and would work cheaper.

A few years ago I was working in the O&G industry in Iran( Asaluyeh). I was working at a huge 4 train gas treatment plant.One day I happened upon a team of Thai welders working on a project. . By saying "sawasdee krap" I got a big laugh out of them. They were on a 6 month contract with no break to go home.They all seemed quite happy..I sure hope the got paid well. BTW at that place in time it was real close to 50 c.

[KannikaP]

2 hours ago, bbko said:

I was going to add 7-11 workers, but some here don't have a sense of humor.

Not forgetting Home Pro and Global House!   LOL

[Dcheech]

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

I'm just curious about the reason Saudi wants Thais when they have a steady supply of workers from India and probably Pakistan who I'd bet do and would work cheaper.

KTC verifies job skills. With that some person could 'potentially' get a job in Saudi, but nothing in the article says a job is guaranteed.  Hope it all works out. It remains to be seen what giving back the blue rock, and those green ones, got PM Prayut, besides normalization of relations.

[overherebc]

3 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Up till the Blue Diamond Affair Thai workers were very common in Saudi and remitted millions of much needed baht back to Thailand. People who think this is a new phenomenon are ignorant of the expat Labour Market which is massive in the middle east. The loss of this source of income has been very damaging for Thailand over the last 30 years. The recent changes are to be welcomed.

Is this why the baht is getting slightly stronger lately.

[Smokey and the Bandit]

3 hours ago, bbko said:

I was going to add 7-11 workers, but some here don't have a sense of humor.

Exactly, it was obviously meant as a joke.  Sadly some people take every comment far too seriously!!

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

Perhaps true, however I'm wondering just how these areas of knowledge and skill (diferent aspects) are being assessed. 

 

Further I'm wondering what levels of English language capability is being prescribed (ability to read and comprehend instructions etc., and two way convesation abilities). Could be wrong but I'm standing by for the announcement that the sector of workers to be offered* positions abroad who need good English language capabilities will be given a 10 day crash course whereupon they will be capable of high levels of English language.

 

(*Perhaps this is being handled differently but I recall in the past several incidents of Thai members of my outer circle family / friends etc., going to apply for a job abroad - apply at a commercial job agency, not at a gov't., office and withdrawing quickly when they realized they were instantly labelled as robots who aren't allowed to ask questions, expected to sit on the floor in perfect lines for hours and not allowed to talk, not properly provided with food or water and ushered like sheep onto an aircraft with little further information of what was ahead and not allowed to ask.

 

As a specific example (decades ago) my Thai DIL's elder brother went to Saudi and was horiified at the conditions, the need to repay more and more unknown expenses of getting there, inability to talk to anybody to get out, eventually did come home but with unpaid expenses still hanging over his head, and no savings.

 

Plus whilst in Saudi, spoken to like to dog, lack of food, very poor living conditions etc., and had been beaten a couple of times.

 

After several years back in Essan he found an advertisement for work in Brunei, he checked the details and contacted several people nearby who had worked in Brunei and was convinced it was not like his Saudi experience.

 

He went to Brunei, instantly - known in advance - into a free English language conversation class and on salary, no yelling, no beatings, nothing like that, quite good living conditions, welcome to ask questions, seek advice etc.

 

He stayed for about 8 years with a home visit every 10 months subsidised  by his employers, came home with a quite large amount of cash, built a nice home, new car, enough funds put aside for better/further education for his kids who were by this time just finishing high school).     

I'll add a bit more; The outer family Thai man concerned gained a lot from his stint in Brunei, he got promoted several times and finished as a section manager responsible for organizing and planning and therefore gained a very useful skill. When he returned his English language skills were bordering on advanced. I've had many interesting balanced conversations with him and he's very capable of building/expressing good discusion points.

 

He kept all the published English language materials used in his initial english lessons and more.

 

Upon his return to Essan he didn't work for about 1 year which he devoted successfully to teaching his 2 HS kids to speak English.

 

One of his farang neighbors helped him to organize lessons for village kids (about P3 upwards) and the farang gathered financial help from other local farang to develop and produce professional progressive lesson materials for these lessons, and several farang helped with programmed practice sessions an hour after each lesson.

 

It seems that the original materials are taken from a now quite old but still well respected progressive and quite successful English language development program from the BBC, called 'FOLLOW ME'.

 

This program used to come with old style cassette tapes for developing listening and comprehenion skills but some farang 'helpers' apparently converted that to thumb drive and established a small simple website with the dialogue all labelled by lesson numbers etc., available/downloadable from the website.

 

Whether this is all still in operation I don't know.  

 

 

 

 

Edited February 15, 2022 by scorecard

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The skills of Thai workers who want to work abroad are now being rapidly assessed, especially for occupations that are in urgent demand by foreign employers. This effort comes in response to the government’s policy to send Thai workers to Saudi Arabia.

As long as they are suitably employed, paid & protected it's an opportunity for Thais who have no future here.

If I was a young Thai I'd be on the first plane out.

[Cake Monster]

3 hours ago, Al BB said:

 

I believe they are short of immigrant workers. They have (or Did Have ) the KAFALA system, which meant that workers needed a sponsor in KSA. Good Luck to them that go! And don't start thieving if you want to keep both your hands!

IMO, we are going to hear of many such things that will be inflicted upon the Youth of Thailand in Saudi.

They are not exactly known for being Law abiding and honest

[Aussieroaming]

Currently seeking kleptomaniacs and diamond appraisers for expat work in Saudi Arabia. 

[LittleBear57]

Skilled workers in Thailand a complete joke.

[bangon04]

7 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

I'm thinking if I was a Thai guy working for low wages I'd think about this offer. They will probably make at least double maybe triple wages in Saudi. I'm just curious about the reason Saudi wants Thais when they have a steady supply of workers from India and probably Pakistan who I'd bet do and would work cheaper.

and may fit muslim standards of behaviour.....

[RubbaJohnny]

Nimble quick thinking workers whose brain is able to respond deftly to diamond opportunities, execute and feturn to base asap  will be much in demand/remand a real jewel in the ..........