Japanese wary of Thai labour shortage

[Admin]

Japanese wary of Thai labour shortage
By NALIN VIBOONCHART
THE NATION
Published on April 28, 2011

Thailand is in the sights of Japanese firms thinking of relocating out of their earthquake-prone homeland, but the worsening shortage of labour here could make them look elsewhere, warns the Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology (TNI).

"After the earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan's industrial zone, many Japanese firms are moving to invest in other countries, including Thailand," Hideo Yoshihara, adviser to the president of the TNI, said yesterday. "So the labour-shortage problem here is intensifying. The Thai government is tackling this problem but it has not yet improved.

There should be more [efforts] to solve this problem."

Japanese firms, particularly those in the automobile and electronic-component industries, are worried about the tight supply of both general and skilled workers, he said.

The TNI is trying to help solve the problem by providing trained workers for those firms. Between 2007 when it was established and last year it produced 270 engineering and information-technology graduates who can speak both English and Japanese.

Boonlert Theeratrakul, director of the Labour Market Research Division at the Employment Department, said the Labour Ministry forecast shortfalls of 400,000 industrial workers this year, 700,000 next year and 1.1 million in 2013. The problem is becoming more acute as the economy keeps growing.

The International Monetary Fund predicts the Thai economy expanding by 4 per cent, 4.3 per cent and 4.5 per cent in each of those three years. However, workers' qualifications and capabilities do not meet employers' requirements, and the working population is declining as society ages.

The ministry recently interviewed some local companies and found some that had good management and offered good benefits to their staff.

That gave the ministry confidence that the industrial-labour shortage is not serious. If companies have good provisions like those enterprises, they can avoid labour shortages.

The ministry is preparing measures to help prevent this problem, with the main focus on increasing the labour-force participation rate and increasing productivity. The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the setting up of a committee to solve the problem of insufficient personnel for industry.

The ministry is encouraging undergraduates to participate more in career training and providing more opportunities for graduates to find work through job-market events.

It is also pushing companies to cooperate more with educational institutions and the Skill Development Department so schools can know the requirements of employers and produce workers with the qualifications and capabilities that meet market demand, Boonlert said.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/04/28/business/Japanese-wary-of-Thai-labour-shortage-30154140.html

[isanbirder]

There's a difference between shortage of labour, and shortage of trained personnel.  There is no shortage of the lower grades (they're just too lazy to work in many instances)  but there is a shortage of trained people.  This is why I always encouraged students to study at Vocational or Technical Schools where they go out equipped with skills to get a job.