The need to get the right people in the right jobs

As economic circumstances change, the question is being asked whether Thailand is producing enough qualified people to meet demands

The labour situation in Thailand has revealed flaws in the country's development process. Thailand is short of low-skilled workers, while at the same time many graduates are unemployed. Ironically, while the chambers of commerce are calling for the government to delay the deadline to verify the nationality of foreign workers - to allow many foreign workers whose nationalities are still in question to continue working in Thailand - more than 90,000 graduates from the class of 2010-2012 cannot find work.

This is not only happening to liberal arts or humanities graduates, but also those with specialised and technical skills. This implies that the country's education institutions are not producing graduates with the qualifications the market needs. Or the case may be that Thailand's economic development is not yet advanced enough to create higher demand for skilled labour.

A prosperous economy should improve the wellbeing of workers and create good job opportunities. But over the past few decades Thailand has seen a shift of labour from the farming sector to other sectors, such as service and manufacturing.

From 1973 to 1977, 67 per cent of Thai workers were in the agriculture sector. That figure fell to 60 per cent from 1988 to 1992 and to 42.2 per cent from 2003 to 2006. Even more worrying is that many of these remaining farmers are working on other people's land.

More than half of the Thai workforce is in the informal sector, totalling 24.1 million people, or 62.3 per cent. Workers in the formal sector total 14.6 million, or 37.7 per cent.

Workers in the informal sector tend to have less bargaining power with their employers. They are more vulnerable to being fired or laid off, and most live outside the government's welfare system.

The bargaining power of these workers is further reduced by the flow of foreign workers coming into Thailand to meet demand in labour-intensive sectors such as construction and fishing. They are directly affected by the changing social and economic environment.

This has raised the question of whether Thailand is seeing unsustainable growth.

While the demand for low-skilled workers is increasing, these same workers are seeing no corresponding increase in their bargaining power, because employers can easily replace them with foreign workers.

While they may not have much of a say with their employers, who have obviously gained more bargaining power, these workers have, in recent years, tried to assert themselves and become more active politically.

The improvement of conditions for low-skilled workers should be addressed in a systematic manner. Instead, the government's measures in this regard are mostly piecemeal. The minimum wage rise - by 40 per cent from next year - will not ensure better living standards. The best way to help workers is to create a sustainable business environment that encourages workers to improve their skills and thus be able to bargain with their employers.

Unfortunately, the current crop of decision-makers focuses merely on short-term solutions like the minimum wage rise or extending the nationality-certification deadline to assist some foreign workers.

Workers should be able to feel pride and dignity in their employment, instead of feeling they have to depend on government support or the goodwill of their employer.

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/12/15/the-need-to-get-the-right-people-in-the-right-jobs/