The Labor Ministry is encouraging Thais to work overseas next year for the billions of baht they add to the economy, it announced yesterday.
Nearly 98,000 Thais have gone abroad as of October this year, and labor official Suchat Pornchaiwiseskul said it wants to keep that up with 100,000 workers abroad in 2020, which it hopes will generate THB140 billion (US$463 million) in economic activity.
It also hopes that people who go work in prosperous countries such as Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Israel will come home with improved know-how and skills.
While most imagine jobs in massage or restaurants, many Thais work in agriculture and factories abroad. They often do so under poor conditions, as the BBC reported last year following a year-long look into the “unsafe and squalid” conditions workers face in Israel under a program organized by both nations’ governments.
In 2016, the Bank of Thailand put the number of overseas Thai workers at 1.1 million.
Suchat did encourage those working abroad to do so legally.
“We ask Thai workers to process their immigration applications and work abroad legally, which can be done via agencies, via the Department of Employment for government-sponsored programs, from employer-provided internship programs abroad and through jobseekers’ own attempts to find employment abroad,” he said yesterday.
The department also offers a self-service program for job-seekers and help with paperwork on its website.
In recent years, many Thais working illegally overseas have been arrested. One of the countries where this happens frequently, South Korea, has debated reinstating visa requirements for Thai travelers due to the problem.
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