Shortage of skilled workers in Pathum Thani

[webfact]

Shortage of skilled workers in Pathum Thani
By Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

 

Theanrat Nawamawat, head of Pathum Thani Labour Office.

 

BANGKOK: -- Pathum Thani province is facing a serious shortage of midskilled labour, especially those who have graduated from high vocational and technical schools, according to Theanrat Nawamawat, head of Pathum Thani Labour Office.

 

Pathum Thani province is facing a serious shortage of midskilled labour, especially those who have graduated from high vocational and technical schools, according to Theanrat Nawamawat, head of Pathum Thani Labour Office.

 

She said there were currently 13,000 business enterprises in Pathum Thani of which more than 3,000 are factories. The province also had more than 400,000 workers, who have registered for social insurance.

 

The province has two major industrial parks – Navanakorn and Bangkadi – and they are occupied by 227 and 38 factories respectively. Sony, which produces electronic devices, will return to its plant at Bangkadi after having left the industrial park following the severe floods in 2011. The return of Sony to the industrial park opens up job opportunities for 3,000 to 4,000 workers.

 

Meanwhile, Toshiba’s harddisk drive factory in Navanakorn has been acquired by a new investor who will open the new operation for the manufacture of optical fiber cables. The factory will recruit about 6,000 workers for the factory.

 

“Pathum Thani province is facing a serious shortage of technicians. Today, many students are not getting vocational education. Parents themselves have a mindset that their children need to graduate from a university. They also have a negative attitude towards vocational schools and their students, and also about their violent behaviour,” said Theanrat.

 

“In real life, there are good vocational students. The labour market needs not diplomas from universities but technicians who are able to bring their vocational skills to the work place,” said Theanrat.

 

She said that if employers could not find Thais to fill these vacancies, they will need to replace them with migrant workers instead.

 

There are currently 270,000 migrant workers in Pathum Thani, mainly from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

 

Theanrat said that Pathum Thani province had recently launched a campaign, chaired by its provincial governor, to encourage parents and their children to study vocational education and acquire vocational skills. The campaign also included a matching day, which also saw parฌticipation by local work places, vocational schools and opportunity expansion schools in the province.

 

She said the campaign would help solve the shortage of midskill labour in the province as well as change the negative attitudes about vocational schools and their students. It would help develop vocational skills that meet specific requirements of those factories located in a real working environment.

 

Pathum Thani province will host a job fair on April 21 and 22 at The Hub fashion and community mall in Rangsit.

 

“In order to achieve the Thailand 4.0 economic model, Thai workers need to upgrade their capability towards greater productivity and multiskill. They are required to have good English literacy and adequate knowledge of IT,” said Theanrat, adding the Ministry of Education also needed to produce sufficient number of vocational students to fill the work place and meet the specific requirements of those factories.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/business/30311080

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-04-03

[jabis]

12 x vocational in one article - apparently they need vocational mid-skilled workers 

[BEVUP]

Can't believe it as they all seem to have degrees 

So what happens when all the positions that require a degree dry up