PATTAYA, Thailand – Local employers are asking the government to ease issues associated with labor permits for entrants from neighboring countries. Companies say that the process is convoluted and can even take several months, leading to some economic migrants being illegally and riskily employed.
The recent exodus of Cambodian workers from the Pattaya area (at the behest of Phnom Penh authorities) has caused more shortages concern, especially as international tourist numbers are picking up. For example, Japanese numbers have surged by 86 percent in recent weeks according to deputy government spokesperson Sasikarn Watthanachan.
Most foreign workers are from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos under special MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) agreements with Thai authorities in 2017. They work in construction, retail, factories, farming, fishing and hospitality. Contracts typically last for two years, similarly extendable, although young males from Myanmar cannot return home to visit relatives as they risk conscription into the junta army.
Jessataporn Bunnag, director of the Foreign Workers Employment Agency located next to the Jomtien headquarters of Chonburi immigration police, said, “There is a general shortage of immigrant labor locally in all sectors. We can register new arrivals quickly, but the award of labour permits is a slow bureaucracy at the Department of Employment.”
Thai ministers have now called for immigrant labour to be recruited from “new” countries such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka to address the issue. But Mr Bunnag pointed out there is no relevant MOU to deal with all the details including wages, hospital cover and associated civil rights.
He said, “Without a specific MOU or Cabinet resolution, such immigrants would need a non-immigrant “B” visa and an employer here in Thailand. This is the system well-known to professional expats from the UK or the US and unsuitable for local-hire labourers. What we need is a fast-track bureaucracy to address quickly actual needs in the market place.”
A spokesman for the employment ministry said, “There are around 2.5 million authorized local foreign workers in Thailand, with about one third in the Chonburi (including Pattaya) area.” Many observers say that the large number of undocumented workers could double that total.
