Severe Labour Shortage Looms: Thailand

[chiangmaikelly]

Labor shortage

Simple solution

Raise wages

Attract more employees

Their labor shortage is a lack of laborers at super low wage rates, and given time, industry will ask the government to allow them to bring in more Burmese, Laos and Cambodian laborers at below minimum wage rates,

The shrimp industry is filled with many tens of thousands of Cambodians working for peanuts.

Fishing boats are full of Burmese working at slave wages.

Thai industries will want to import labor and they want to claim there is a labor shortage in order to get the allowance to bring in foreign laborers.

Simple isin't it. Lower wages more jobs raise wages more employees. In a free market.

[Moruya]

It's a strange world here.

The new minimum wage is expected to reduce jobs and increase unemployment.

Government statistics say there will be a shortage of workers.

Statistics show millions of tonnes of rice in long term storage and Thailand dropping from first to third in global exports.

Government statistics show Thailand is to be the largest exporter despite a lack of data to reinforce it.

Internationally renowned financiers show expected growth for Thailand of 4.6%

Government statistics show 15% under Kittirat's little white lie.

There used to be a time when you could get the real facts from the BoT website.

Now all the data looks so much better. But the report signatory names are now all PTP

Positively Orwellian news management.

[peterpop]

It's not a workforce issue, it's a productivity issue. My wife & I were eating in a burger place near Siam Center; I counted no less than 11 employees in the dining room & kitchen. We were the only customers! There were enough employees there to run 3 restaurants. If Thai workers would learn to be productive, the labor shortage would vanish.

Oh, and by the way... service was still horrible in the restaurant. o_O

You should move out of Bangkok. I visited from Chiang Mai last week. It is dirty, noisy, poor service and hot. Move to Chiang Mai and rediscover the real Thailand.

[notime]

I wish I could work at 7-11. Air-conditioned, can comb my hair, talk to friends, hide in the back room...

Not a good idea. By my account the 7-11 is actually one of the very few efficiently run businesses here. These shops tend to be busy non-stop and so are the staff there. It must be because there are family owned, small franchises. As we know, small business must be efficient as they don't have money to burn on lazy staff. Compare this to a place like HomePro. Once, I counted about 100 employees on the floor there. All "bunched up" in "talking parties" and hiding behind the shelves. All work in air-con and run away when customer comes around. They make their most to avoid foreigners as none of them speak English. They also have absolutely no idea about the products in the store so no point asking them even in Thai. The store exceeds in selling cheapest-crappiest quality goods probably because by marking them up by huge margins is the only way they can fund the whole show. HomePro is the place for your dream job!

[harryfrompattaya]

while the younger generation tended to spend more time studying rather than entering the workforce.

That is a new interpretation on this one.

It seems to be a sample program import worker from the U.S.A and the EU where unemployment is very high

[Moruya]

It was my brother's birthday last month. I bought him a few presents, one of which was a coffee mug. It came in a white cardboard box about 20cm cubed.

The sales staff attempted to wrap it, positioning the box on the paper in many places but obviously was too perplexed and handed it over to the cashier who went through the same motions before declaring that it was beyond her skill set. A third employee arrived and suffered the same realisation of his abilities. 15 minutes wasted. Employee number 3 then took the box over to another station to be wrapped. After a further 15 minutes the original sales staff returned and asked if he could help. I explained that the mug I had paid for had disappeared and not come back. He went in search of it. It seems it had been wrapped and abandoned.

30 wasted minutes. A number of pretty useless staff.

Central Department Store Chaengwattana.

Certainly not the first time for me there.

Moved on to Power Buy. Wanted a 3G Wireless router. Put your SIM card in and 3G speeds over Wireless. I need such a thing as despite government assurances to the contrary , there is no ADSL in my village. There is no such thing the staff assured me. More staff came over with the same answer. A colleague from the mobile phone section came over and pointed out that these gadgets are available from certain mobile phone shops.

Way too many staff. Way too little training.

[thaibeachlovers]

It's not a workforce issue, it's a productivity issue. My wife & I were eating in a burger place near Siam Center; I counted no less than 11 employees in the dining room & kitchen. We were the only customers! There were enough employees there to run 3 restaurants. If Thai workers would learn to be productive, the labor shortage would vanish.

Oh, and by the way... service was still horrible in the restaurant. o_O

Yes, and I wish they didn't have so many spare staff in stores that one is able to follow me around and point out items that I have no interest in.

As for actual "service", before the tsunami, I was staying at a now vanished resort on P P. A farang lady tripped and fell on the uneven floor in reception. Not only did the many staff behind the counter NOT go to aid her and see if she was OK, they laughed ( loudly and openly ) at her. Shameful, but I doubt they cared.

[thaibeachlovers]

It's not a workforce issue, it's a productivity issue. My wife & I were eating in a burger place near Siam Center; I counted no less than 11 employees in the dining room & kitchen. We were the only customers! There were enough employees there to run 3 restaurants. If Thai workers would learn to be productive, the labor shortage would vanish.

Oh, and by the way... service was still horrible in the restaurant. o_O

You should move out of Bangkok. I visited from Chiang Mai last week. It is dirty, noisy, poor service and hot. Move to Chiang Mai and rediscover the real Thailand.

That's funny. I just returned home from C M and that's ( dirty, noisy, poor service and hot. ) how I'd describe it, with addition of terrible traffic, worse roads and rubbish public transport ( especially after dark ). Has all the bad points of Bkk and few if any good ones. So far as I can see, the only thing better is the absence of mangy soi dogs on the roads.

If that's the "real" Thailand, God help them.

[hellodolly]

What the?

Population of 70mil and a labour shortage?

Could it be cause Thailand is kicking out the Burmese, Cambodians and Laos?

Could it be the 300 baht/day is discouraging employees to hire workers?

Could it be that young people would rather stay home and play with their Iphones to facebook?

Could it be Thai Parents spoil their kids turning them into rugrats?

Could it be all of the above?

Could be

[soomak]

You think ? i have a number of Thai friends between 38 and and 55 that are working full time, men and women, would like to change there work place, some are highly skilled, it would appear that the magic age here is 35, if your over that forget it, just stay at the present work place, or do something on your own, eg: Market stall, shop. noodle seller...

It always surprises me, why Thais see cooking instant noodles or meatballs on a stick, while standing on the roadside all day, inhaling smoke and excaust fumes, a viable alternative to a regular, salaried job.

There may be money in selling ready-made food, but I would never ever think of selling spaghetti or hot dogs, or whatever for hours on the roadside.

I know of a family that runs a roadside noodle stall. They work 16 hours a day and the competition is stiff but they make 50k baht per month. Very hard work in unpleasant conditions but the rewards are there if you are successful.

Would you work 16 hours a day 7 days a week for 50K baht?

I never worked more then 12 hours a day in my life, and never worked 7 days a week as well.

I really can't imagine such a life...

[soomak]

It's not a workforce issue, it's a productivity issue. My wife & I were eating in a burger place near Siam Center; I counted no less than 11 employees in the dining room & kitchen. We were the only customers! There were enough employees there to run 3 restaurants. If Thai workers would learn to be productive, the labor shortage would vanish.

Oh, and by the way... service was still horrible in the restaurant. o_O

Go into most of the department stores in any Thai city at almost any time and you will find the staff outnumber the customers by about 5 to 1. How some of these places remain in business I do not know.

The clerks get paid by the vendors not the department store.

Ok, then how do the vendors manage to stay in business? There is always only a few customers to all these clerks, It's just like the old British comedy "Are you being served" and also a few Mr Humphries charactors (Ladyboys).

Actually the answer is simple:

5 low level Thai employees earn the same salary as one low level employee in Europe or the US.

So they just employee 3 people to do the work of one, and it costs them less then one employee in the West.

And why not cut down the number of employees and make more profit?

That's a good question, and the only answer I could think of is that having a lot of employees is a big face gainer. If you are in charge of 10 employees it raises your status.

[chiangmaikelly]

You think ? i have a number of Thai friends between 38 and and 55 that are working full time, men and women, would like to change there work place, some are highly skilled, it would appear that the magic age here is 35, if your over that forget it, just stay at the present work place, or do something on your own, eg: Market stall, shop. noodle seller...

It always surprises me, why Thais see cooking instant noodles or meatballs on a stick, while standing on the roadside all day, inhaling smoke and excaust fumes, a viable alternative to a regular, salaried job.

There may be money in selling ready-made food, but I would never ever think of selling spaghetti or hot dogs, or whatever for hours on the roadside.

I know of a family that runs a roadside noodle stall. They work 16 hours a day and the competition is stiff but they make 50k baht per month. Very hard work in unpleasant conditions but the rewards are there if you are successful.

Would you work 16 hours a day 7 days a week for 50K baht?

I never worked more then 12 hours a day in my life, and never worked 7 days a week as well.

I really can't imagine such a life...

It's called the restaurant or hotel business.

[surangw]

from what I see in the workplace, a lot of univ grads are still unskilled.

[indyuk]

While the economy moves from agrarian to industrial, the current government wastes huge amounts of resources subsidising uneconomic labour-intensive industry.

They need to realise the way to boost the wealth of the Thai people is not raising the minimum wage, it is educating them and encouraging them to move into better paying jobs, raising the AVERAGE wage.

A credible minimum age is essential. The UK and the USA have minimum wage rates set by Nation Government. (USA = $7.50 cents ph) Without a minimum wage law employment practices would drift back into the use of sweatshops and other forms of abuse of the labor force.

[chiangmaikelly]

While the economy moves from agrarian to industrial, the current government wastes huge amounts of resources subsidising uneconomic labour-intensive industry.

They need to realise the way to boost the wealth of the Thai people is not raising the minimum wage, it is educating them and encouraging them to move into better paying jobs, raising the AVERAGE wage.

A credible minimum age is essential. The UK and the USA have minimum wage rates set by Nation Government. (USA = $7.50 cents ph) Without a minimum wage law employment practices would drift back into the use of sweatshops and other forms of abuse of the labor force.

If the minimum wage reduces the total amount of money spent on wages in the country and is responsible for people losing jobs do you still think it is a good idea?

[hellodolly]

I wish I could work at 7-11. Air-conditioned, can comb my hair, talk to friends, hide in the back room...

Not a good idea. By my account the 7-11 is actually one of the very few efficiently run businesses here. These shops tend to be busy non-stop and so are the staff there. It must be because there are family owned, small franchises. As we know, small business must be efficient as they don't have money to burn on lazy staff. Compare this to a place like HomePro. Once, I counted about 100 employees on the floor there. All "bunched up" in "talking parties" and hiding behind the shelves. All work in air-con and run away when customer comes around. They make their most to avoid foreigners as none of them speak English. They also have absolutely no idea about the products in the store so no point asking them even in Thai. The store exceeds in selling cheapest-crappiest quality goods probably because by marking them up by huge margins is the only way they can fund the whole show. HomePro is the place for your dream job!

Beg to disagree with you. Many the time I have been in a 7/11 and saw an employe playing a game on there lap top.

I go to Canada and the U S there 7/11s are at least twice the size of the ones here and never more than two employes often only one. I have been in 7/11s here and seen 4 employes on duty. (Well they were there any how)

[montrii]

It's not a workforce issue, it's a productivity issue. My wife & I were eating in a burger place near Siam Center; I counted no less than 11 employees in the dining room & kitchen. We were the only customers! There were enough employees there to run 3 restaurants. If Thai workers would learn to be productive, the labor shortage would vanish.

Oh, and by the way... service was still horrible in the restaurant. o_O

Does it matter these little issues that some here complain about tirelessly is the reason many of us stay in this country. If you want efficent, rude, and self absorbed waiters get on back home and let us know how thats going

Was going to lay out on this one, but what the heck. Regarding waiters, I generally side with USRNet. Actually most waiters in the US aren't rude, if for no other reason than that they depend on your tips. It always does seem a little weird to me to see Thai workers standing around doing nothing . . . yet it does keep employment high! I don't like the 2 gals they assign to liquor depts of some supermarkets, who really have nothing to tell me about wine or anything else and have nothing better to do than stare at me while I'm deciding. Go to Robinson, or some other big dept. store, there always seem to be too many folks hanging around trying to look useful. If I've got a problem with appearances, that, of course, is my problem, not theirs, but point taken, there's a lot of featherbedding. I saw some guys filling in plaster in the side of a building once. Three of them. One guy mixed the plaster and got up on the ladder to put it in. The other 2 watched.

Employment high, wages low, sufficiency economy. Things to be said for it. But if you want to get much done, you need an efficiency economy. That has its advantages, and also its drawbacks. Me, I had one of those efficiency jobs for quite awhile, and am glad to be out of it. I'm kind of glad to be where things are more laid back. And, for us, it does keep a lot of prices low. But there are two sides to all of this. So why did I weigh in on this at all? Maybe just to accentuate the obvious. It is what it is.

[jerrysteve]

In Singapore which is far more progressive pursuant to age, a person can work usually as long as they are able.

Discriminitory polices against age particularly against the female gender is years behind the western world.

Of course I am quite sure that non of these blokes had mother which is responsible for bringing them into life...

[thaibeachlovers]

In Singapore which is far more progressive pursuant to age, a person can work usually as long as they are able.

Discriminitory polices against age particularly against the female gender is years behind the western world.

Of course I am quite sure that non of these blokes had mother which is responsible for bringing them into life...

I'd rather see tax money put into discovering why men are so anti women and finding solutions than finding out about black holes ( which benefits non of us ).

[hanuman2543]

Could it be cause Thailand is kicking out the Burmese, Cambodians and Laos?

would think is the correct answer....

​years ago in Germany, they sent and even paid for the Turkish folk to go home to Turkey, and then there was no one to pick up the rubbish drive rubbish trucks, sweep roads etc.

I am from Germany and can't remember this. When was that?

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[NCFC]

A couple of months ago chatting with a couple of ladies in a bar on Soi4 Bangkok, they had both been working in a factory and decided to find a higher paying job with party benefits. I asked them wwhich job do you like better, they say are you crazy working in the bar is much better than the factory, better benefits, better pay and a lot more fun.

Agreed,I have also heard the same story from the girls in Bankok sois. None would return to the electronic factories etc that they left to go working at servicing fat, balding, ageing, beer slurping farangs, so there must be something true about this . ( and yes i guess i must be one of them said farangs to some extent).

For the sake of a balanced argument you need to go sit with the factory girls (who outnumber the bar girls,btw) and ask them why they prefer to work in a factory rather than servicing farangs.

The answer you'll get will be more than just about the money.

[hellodolly]

Let me get this right.

they are sugesting the government set up a fund to help them stay open rather than go out of business living upop to the government created wage laws/

Sounds like Thailand to me. They probably will set the fund up and then the operators will get there 30% of the top.

[ignis]

I am from Germany and can't remember this. When was that?

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Late 70's as I remember, the manual labour was no longer needed, one place I do remember was Frankfurt after the underground was finished....... understand again after the wall came down in Berlin...... most/many of the places by the wall were owned by the Turkish people and classed a poor area, suddenly that area was in the middle of Berlin with no wall.... I lived in Schöneberg not far to drive and get my Turkish Bread

P.S. just looked at my German Driver License changed from Frankfurt one to Berlin one in June 1980, so was before then.

[thaibeachlovers]

I am from Germany and can't remember this. When was that?

Sent from my GT-S5360 using Thaivisa Connect App

Late 70's as I remember, the manual labour was no longer needed, one place I do remember was Frankfurt after the underground was finished....... understand again after nthe wall came down in Berlin...... most/many of the places by the wall were owned by the Turkish people and classed a poor area, suddenly that area was in the middle of Berlin with no wall.... I lived in Schöneberg not far to drive and get my Turkish Bread

P.S. just looked at my German Driver License changed from Frankfurt one to Berlin one in June 1980, so was before then.

IMO countries like Saudi that issue work permits for foreigners that last only as long as the contract have it right. They get the labour they need, and if not needed they all go back home. The west is stupid for allowing thousands of aliens to continue living in their countries even after they retire or there is no work for them. As we have seen, it causes a multitude of problems, which doesn't happen in the countries that don't have a large pool of elderly or unemployed from a foreign culture that won't integrate.

[XINLOI]

It's not a workforce issue, it's a productivity issue. My wife & I were eating in a burger place near Siam Center; I counted no less than 11 employees in the dining room & kitchen. We were the only customers! There were enough employees there to run 3 restaurants. If Thai workers would learn to be productive, the labor shortage would vanish.

Oh, and by the way... service was still horrible in the restaurant. o_O

Agreed. At my local DVD rental shop they have SEVEN employees working there. I mean, <deleted> do these people do all day?

Play grabass with each other, their cell phones, their tablets, avoid their customers, anything and everything but work.... Just like all the other businesses in Thailand.........

[jbrain]

The only reason there is a labor shortage in Thailand is because Thai people don't want to work.

This is no direct insult at Thai people, but their problem is that they want look at tomorrow.If they have enough food to get through the day, why would they look for a job.

[emilyb]

Could it be the 300 baht/day is discouraging employees to hire workers?

No. Many factory owning families I have contact with do complain endlessly about the minimum wage hike, but if you know them well they'll tell you that they already pay on average more than that for employees due to A) labor shortage and B} the total cost of importing, and getting permits for Burmese and Cambodian workers. Essentially they make a lot of noise about it, but it has nothing to do with their hiring decisions. It's just wealthy people whining about paying more money in theory. Total cognitive dissonance and not at all surprising.

The thing that is true is that many smaller, and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (smaller as in non-SCG-size) have a very difficult time hiring and keeping Thai staff in many areas of the country and this has a lot to do with the fact that the job sucks, but is also related to the ease of repatriation into multi-generational households and the low cost of subsistence living. People get tired of a job or they get reprimanded or they have a tiff with a co-worker or they meet a boyfriend/girlfriend in another province one weekend and they simply stop showing up for work and go live somewhere else. That lack of work ethic is a bit of a chicken or an egg thing in situations where the work environment sucks (who would want to lay themselves out for a crap employer?), but even in situations where the work environment is white collar, people are treated well and pay is double or triple the minimum wage you'll find the same thing. Not always, but quite normally.

p.s. - Please get rid of the mandatory smilies so that adults can type B + parentheses without having their posts infantilized.

Edited December 26, 2012 by emilyb