Thailand May Face Labour Shortage Before Five Years

[webfact]

Thailand may face labour shortage before five years

BANGKOK, Jan 24 (TNA) -- Successful birth control in Thailand may cause a shortage of labourers in the country in “less than five years,” warned a senior Labour Ministry official Sunday.

Songsri Boonba, deputy director-general of the Employment Department, said a study by the Labour Market Research Division found that demand for labour in Thailand between 2010-2014 will increase every year, especially in the production, agriculture, industry and service sectors.

It is estimated that demand for labourers in the country would be at least 38 million by then, but many workers who were laid off last year have now returned to the agricultural sector while fewer numbers of new graduates have joined the industrial sector, not as high as the 400,000-500,000 workers needed by the industrial sector as claimed earlier by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), Ms Songsri said.

A number of industries now face worker shortages, she admitted. Workforce people in Thailand are aged between 40-59 but it is worrisome that the number of those aged between 25-39 who would replace aging people to retire soon have declined every year due to successful birth control.

Last year alone, more than 200,000 people disappeared from the workforce system in Thailand, said Ms Songsri.

If the situation does not improve, the production sector, especially the industrial will have to use more advanced technology to fill the shortage of workers, she said.

“Concerned agencies such as the BoI (Board of Investment) and the Industry Ministry will have to promote industries which employ few workers but use high technology in order to cope with the current situation. If not, the worker shortage would become a severe problem within five years,” Ms Songsri said. (TNA)

-- TNA 2010-01-25

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[brahmburgers]

'Successful birth control' measures are a good thing - particularly in the big picture of things, such as;

>>>> added pollution (each person contributes an average of 5 tons of CO2 to the atmosphere annually). Plus what's the annual tally of toxins and plastic trash each person adds to the mountains of pollution? Each new person also exacerbates deforestation and the problems of the seas.

Less workers for industrial production is far less of a problem than the toxification of this, our only planet.

There are endless numbers of willing workers from neighboring countries. The main problem with that, as far as Thailand is concerned, is that Thai bureaucracy is not at all friendly to foreigners in that regard.

The only foreigners Thailand wants to see are the rarified few who come for a week or two and spend gobs of money.

[givenall]

Time to import Mermyer workers. I am sure they have no problem in coming over here to work for even less money

Edited January 25, 2010 by givenall

[LaoPo]

There are endless numbers of willing workers from neighboring countries. The main problem with that, as far as Thailand is concerned, is that Thai bureaucracy is not at all friendly to foreigners in that regard.

The only foreigners Thailand wants to see are the rarified few who come for a week or two and spend gobs of money.

Thailand should be pleased with that...

They can always send some specialists to European countries who dealt with so called "guest workers" in the late 50's and 60's when they needed the Italians and later Spaniards and Portuguese guest workers. In the 70's and 80's the Turkish and Moroccans came....

They can have "free" lessons how to deal and how not to deal with workers from foreign countries.

LaoPo

[Naam]

Time to import Mermyer workers. I am sure they have no problem in coming over here to work for even less money

[Thai at Heart]

Well, if only they gave decent paying jobs to every market stand owner in Thailand.

At least 5mn there. But then, whoops, we forgot to educate them, and they have a job (if you can call it a job) already so they might be expensive.

When people in positions spout rubbish such as Thailand has lower unemployment than the developed world, it simply shows they don't even understand what a job really is in terms of economic productivity.

And look, we don't have millions of sprogs coming up to work for slave wages in our labour intensive industries anymore. What to do? Invest in machinery you idiots. Pay a better wage to attract people possibly? Nah, lets import labour from overseas, they can't complain.

Is this man the poster boy for sweat shop industries?

[tonititan]

Not enough workers? Here's a thought....don't hire 15 people to hover around me while I'm trying to pick out towels at the store and there would be many more workers available!

[Scott]

Two off-topic responses have been deleted.

[thaiozy]

There are endless numbers of willing workers from neighboring countries. The main problem with that, as far as Thailand is concerned, is that Thai bureaucracy is not at all friendly to foreigners in that regard.

The only foreigners Thailand wants to see are the rarified few who come for a week or two and spend gobs of money.

Thailand should be pleased with that...

They can always send some specialists to European countries who dealt with so called "guest workers" in the late 50's and 60's when they needed the Italians and later Spaniards and Portuguese guest workers. In the 70's and 80's the Turkish and Moroccans came....

They can have "free" lessons how to deal and how not to deal with workers from foreign countries.

LaoPo

I`ve never heard so much sh**e in my life. Sounds a bit like auss gov with thier guest workers.

there`s plenty of people needing work just add a little bit of training (which Auss didn`t - relying on labour hire companies), then they bring these workers in (along with the free tickets the kiwis have) because alot of people went for higher paid jobs in the bush for a few years & when finished you end up with an over supply of labour

As for birth control they had better keep the education up or if their that worried about a shortage of workers then don`t worry

[PeaceBlondie]

Not to say "I told you so" but...

From 1975 to 2000, if I recall, Thailand had one of the world's sharpest declines in birth rates. Still declining, already below replacement rate. This has been obvious since 1990. Thailand will do nothing about this. They won't open doors for Burmese, Laos, and Khmers to come here legally.

[moskito]

Time to import Mermyer workers. I am sure they have no problem in coming over here to work for even less money

and at least the people from Myanmar WORK. Thais are lazy (except CHINESE-Thai) atm we are looking for a waitress since month! All the other ones are gone after they learned it is easier to spead their legs and make easy money on a bar somewhere in Phuket. Why work for 10k a month and 10h a day, if they make the same money with 1 farang a week?

NO MORE THAI WORKERS in my shop, I go for a woman with some proud from Myanmar, before I make the same experience with Thai-LADIES over and over again!

[starkey_rich]

Time to import Mermyer workers. I am sure they have no problem in coming over here to work for even less money

and at least the people from Myanmar WORK. Thais are lazy (except CHINESE-Thai) atm we are looking for a waitress since month! All the other ones are gone after they learned it is easier to spead their legs and make easy money on a bar somewhere in Phuket. Why work for 10k a month and 10h a day, if they make the same money with 1 farang a week?

NO MORE THAI WORKERS in my shop, I go for a woman with some proud from Myanmar, before I make the same experience with Thai-LADIES over and over again!

Totally agree with you moskito.I have never come across a lazier race of people.No ambition at all.

Trying to get them to duel task i.e do any small task and talk at the same time is a no no.

Except if it's talking on the telephone and watching TV at the same time.

I believe Don had the same trouble trying to staff his business maybe one of the reason's he's had enough and sold up.

[xminator]

This one I seriously doubt. The birth rate in 2008 was nearly 14/1000. The death rate was 7/1000 the same year. There was 14 million thais between 0 and 14 years. Of course, they will all be educated and expect a bit more from life then working 16 hours a day in a Bangkok factory.

So I guess the news should really read "may face shortage of labour willing to work for free before five years", The demographics of Thailand is indicating a wave of young people entering adult life and a need for work.

[Thai at Heart]

This one I seriously doubt. The birth rate in 2008 was nearly 14/1000. The death rate was 7/1000 the same year. There was 14 million thais between 0 and 14 years. Of course, they will all be educated and expect a bit more from life then working 16 hours a day in a Bangkok factory.

So I guess the news should really read "may face shortage of labour willing to work for free before five years", The demographics of Thailand is indicating a wave of young people entering adult life and a need for work.

I would believe it better if the minister had said, we face a glut of young people who aspire to more than minimum wages as "labourers", but we will not be making it easier for foreign investors to come into the country because we must keep our people poor.

[ballpoint]

Totally agree with you moskito.I have never come across a lazier race of people.No ambition at all.

Trying to get them to duel task i.e do any small task and talk at the same time is a no no.

Except if it's talking on the telephone and watching TV at the same time.

I believe Don had the same trouble trying to staff his business maybe one of the reason's he's had enough and sold up.

Believe it or not, but Thailand is not yet a welfare state. They either work, or they have no money. The fact that they choose not to work for you shows that they feel they can either earn more elsewhere, earn less elsewhere, but for less work, or don't need to work at the present moment. I fail to see why someone should be called lazy for either not working when they don't need to, choosing to do a higher paid job, or even choosing to do a lower paid job with less hours. I'd call it intelligence. You can either pay a rate that makes the job attractive to them, or do as Moskito says, and accept they're not interested in your work at the rate you pay, so hire an (I'm assuming illegal) Burmese.

As for the no ambition comment, where's the ambition in running a bar / restaurant in Phuket? I'm sure many of the expats running their own small businesses here could be earning at least the same, and probably a lot more, by working back in their own country. The irony of someone here, presumably for the laid back beach lifestyle, making a decent enough living, but probably not as much as they could if they really wanted to, complaining about the Thai lack of ambition because they're not excited about working in a restaurant, seems to be lost on you. Are these expats lazy, or have they come to the conclusion that quality of life is more important than money and ambition? The same can be said about all the early retirees living here, myself included. I semi retired at 40 with more than enough to last me if I live to be 100+. I could have carried on working full time, but why? I do occasionally accept consulting jobs around the region, but only on my terms. For example, I turned down an offer the beginning of this month because I wanted to take my motorbike to Chiang Mai. Does that make me lazy? Do I lack ambition? Maybe, but only if wanting to make the most of life while spending time with my family is not a worthwhile ambition.

[PeaceBlondie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_count..._fertility_rate

#143 - Fertility rate well below replacement rate, 1.83 live births per mother.

Going kindly about Thai women - fewer workers, and neither they nor their menfolk seem likely to become more industrious.

[bellste]

Time to import Mermyer workers. I am sure they have no problem in coming over here to work for even less money

and at least the people from Myanmar WORK. Thais are lazy (except CHINESE-Thai) atm we are looking for a waitress since month! All the other ones are gone after they learned it is easier to spead their legs and make easy money on a bar somewhere in Phuket. Why work for 10k a month and 10h a day, if they make the same money with 1 farang a week?

NO MORE THAI WORKERS in my shop, I go for a woman with some proud from Myanmar, before I make the same experience with Thai-LADIES over and over again!

My wife employ mostly Thai men, they don't have that oportunity. 

[hhgz]

With an unemployment rate of just over 1%, it doesn't take a PhD to realize that there is a labor shortage...birth control notwithstanding.

[moskito]

Believe it or not, but Thailand is not yet a welfare state.

I think its the biggest welfare state in the world parents sponsor their lazy kids until they have kids by themselfs, always wonder how most of kids in Thailand can finance the newest handphone model and motobike....some are even sponsored by a farang in the family ...many of them are gambling and I bet Thailand is one of the top list countrys in gambling addicted citizens in the world.

And why work anyway if it is easier to hunting the fish and vegetables in neighbors garden

....where's the ambition in running a bar / restaurant in Phuket? I'm sure many of the expats running their own small businesses here could be earning at least the same, and probably a lot more, by working back in their own country.

ballpoint, you are my hero from now on. But for some of us which cant live on their money until 100y.o. + have to work. I know by myself that I make much more money in Europe or US but I left the consum terror their because I dont need a new TV every year and a new car every 2. Just enough to make a living with my Thaiwife (which work 14h a day as a cook) and not in the horizontal position like 99% of your ladies before they met you

ohh and btw, there are not only illegal Burmese workers here. These days it is pretty easy to pay for a workpermit for a Burmese and get somebody who

WANTS to work. NO THAIS ANyMORE except they have Chinese parents

thx @ starkey_rich, I did not know that with Don but I know that he experienced the same problems like every other employer in LoS

[ballpoint]

... I know by myself that I make much more money in Europe or US but I left the consum terror their because I dont need a new TV every year and a new car every 2. Just enough to make a living with my Thaiwife (which work 14h a day as a cook)...

Well, that's exactly what I said in my post, where, if you'd bothered to read it properly, I went on to say "Are these expats lazy, or have they come to the conclusion that quality of life is more important than money and ambition?" You still can't see the irony in that? You could be ambitiously working in your own country, but you chose a better lifestyle here, as did I, and the vast majority of expats living here. Yet, because there are Thais who would prefer the same, you label the entire race, except for the Chinese ones, for some reason, as lazy, while the poster I was actually replying to, labelled them as "all lacking ambition".

...and not in the horizontal position like 99% of your ladies before they met you

This is probably the real reason why you find it hard to keep staff. You are a very offensive little man. One only wonders what you hope to achieve by posting such slime.

Edited January 25, 2010 by ballpoint

[livinthailandos]

As Im in the Tourism Industry and on samui I can actually confirm more than 10 hotels have at least 10 open positions at the moment that makes 100 openings, I know that may not matter to a lot of people but this year its actually taking me longer to find staff. I'm so far finding only 2 kinds of applicants

Under Qualified: Meaning that have little work experience, lack of english skills

Over Qualified: Meaning that have experience but the salary their wanting is more than I can pay

Don't get me wrong I've updated my salary to pay at least 15,000 but it seems here on samui their's definetly of lack of workers I can only assume either:

They've gone home to work with the family

They've gone to work abroad

They've all been taken up by all the luxury hotels and condo's

They've decided not to work

My only options I'm eventually going to have left are:

Hire Illegally

Close the Business

face the prospect of working from 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM everyday without staff. ( when its really busy this option still won't work well )

Change pay from 15,000 to 25,000 in range if necessary

All I know is from the different managers and owners of hotels I talk with, we all are in the same boat though. Samui has a shortage of workers.

[astral]

From what I see there are plenty of unemployed young people............

Whether they are unemployable is another matter.

[fabianfred]

Two off-topic responses have been deleted.

and then later ones expressing exactly the same opinion have been allowed....

[geriatrickid]

When labour is scarce, wages increase. For those proponents of free markets and capitalism, this must be accepted. Increased wages may encourage some inflation, but it improves the standard of living for everyone. It is time some employers reconsidered their profit margins and adapted accordingly. Previously, the pool of cheap labour meant that employers could do as they please. Now employers will have to consider labour an integral asset. This will be a difficult transition for some, but it's what allowed many western nations to move their societies forward.

BTW, last year multiple reports were issued about the impact of health on the labour force. Some of those reports were discussed in TV. HIV/AIDS removes a large chunk of the labour pool. Lose 100,000 males between the ages of 21 and 40 and you it makes a dent. When alcoholism is more likely to occur in some region's age groups, this too has an impact.

I offer that the issue is not the available pool of labour, rather it is the management: The planning and setting of priorities that's the problem.

[moskito]

...and not in the horizontal position like 99% of your ladies before they met you

This is probably the real reason why you find it hard to keep staff. You are a very offensive little man. One only wonders what you hope to achieve by posting such slime.

sorry if I hit the point. Btw, offensive, sure, sometimes I am. Little... I doubt it, not everybody living in LoS is a retired 60 years old

and to stay on topic, I had 5 girls here working for us in the past 2 years. First one take always her "share" directly from the cashbox, three of them start working on a bar, and the last one directly go with a customer of the restaurant. Makes it hard to belive THEY are different.

off topic sry

The only thing what makes me laugh is when the "customer" of our last one will find out she is married already and have another boyfriend

[MaiChai]

I believe the Thais need to adapt to the modern world and have an immigration system that allows foreigners to come and work here, on fair terms, to fill the employment gaps. They have the situation here at the low end lots of low paid/low esteam jobs that Thais don't want to do, and at the higher end gaps of experts/specialists/educators (meaning foreigners from more developed countries like US/Europe/Singapore/etc). Saying Thailand is for Thais is not the clever way to deal with the issue. But then TiT?

[lannarebirth]

The auther has obviously never run the gauntlet through a sea of orange poloed "workers" at HomePro. If 50 went missing from every store, would productivity decline? I doubt it.

[Thai at Heart]

The auther has obviously never run the gauntlet through a sea of orange poloed "workers" at HomePro. If 50 went missing from every store, would productivity decline? I doubt it.

Add on all the birds in Top Charoen Optical and you could have a veritable army. As for the people in Homepro, I reckon they play hide and seek all day because you definitely can never find one when you need one.

[brahmburgers]

Geriatrickid was the first one to mention alcoholism, and an earlier post mentioned compulsive gambling - both of which are factors re; the labor pool and their effectiveness.

I do construction and property improvements. My workers are all hill tribe, except when I subcontract things out like windows. I may be wrong, but my impression of Thais is they don't want to get their hands dirty. Plus, if you offer them a job which is out of the ordinary (one which they'd have to figure things out as things develop) - they're not interested. Same for commission. They like jobs to be well defined and the money to be a dependable stable amount paid monthly. They'll ask 'what does it pay per month?' ...so, if you offer them a position that pays a low base amount, but has possible big commission payments for self-motivated types of activity - they'll likely turn it down. If it's unusual of 'out of the box' , they don't want to grapple with it.

As for manufacturing jobs, which relates to the OP, Thai and Chinese-Thai bosses are as petty as they can possibly be. If they can get away with paying an average 5 baht per hour for an 84 hour week, then they'll do it. That's the type of wages that interned workers get for essentially living in restaurants and/or massage parlors and being on call 12 hours per day, 7 days per week. Interns out of college get even less - they don't even get their meals covered by the corporations for whom they're working for free. The stinginess of Asian bosses knows no bounds.

I heard a first hand report of a large construction site in Phuket, where a Thai boss hired a whole bunch of Burmese and told them they'd get paid the last day of each month. He paid them while work progressed. At the end of the final month, surprise!, no wage payments. What recourse did the workers have? Nothing.

[MaiChai]

The auther has obviously never run the gauntlet through a sea of orange poloed "workers" at HomePro. If 50 went missing from every store, would productivity decline? I doubt it.

Ha ha. Yes I was thinking of mentioning this. This bugs me as I want to look around and browse rather than have some ignorant helper try and filter me to something they want to sell. Guess its better than B&Q in the UK; they fill their stores with carboard cutouts of staff to make you think there is lots of people to help you! Guess it depends on whether you are a clueless shopper who needs help or an intelligent shopper who knows what he wants