Foreign skills seen as opportunity, not threat

Importing foreign skilled workers should be seen as an opportunity for exchanging knowledge to raise Thailand's competitiveness rather than a threat, says Labour Minister Chalermchai Sri-on.

The country would definitely experience problems if there is no prudent planning and preparation for the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, when freedom of movement for workers will become much easier, he said.

"What we need is to assess demand for labour in each industry," he said. "I think there are both benefits since we will be able to choose the kind of labour that we want, and drawbacks, because on the other hand it will be kind of a competition."

Kampon Adireksombat, a senior economist at Siam Commercial Bank's Economic Intelligence Center, said many sectors lacked skilled labour, such as the IT sector in which Indians have a specialty, and also automotive technicians. "Thailand now focuses only on bringing in unskilled labour without focusing much on skilled labour. The AEC will provide us an opportunity to bring in highly skilled human resources to share knowledge, but we also need to adapt," said Dr Kampon, who also proposed that sectors that need skilled labour should be provided with lower taxes.

Alex Gordy, editorial manager of the Oxford Business Group, said that while increased competition from low-skilled labour markets such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos may benefit from opportunities in the Thai market, this will also allow for Thais to move further up the value chain with productivity gains that would justify wage increases.

"The creation of a regional labour market will introduce more flexibility in national labour markets and could allow for further specialisation of human resources," said Mr Gordy.

He said that in general, economic analyses tend to prove that the benefits of a common regional labour market far outweigh the disadvantages.

"The goal of 2015 presents a strong incentive for governments to upgrade their human resources. ... Another element the Thai government may wish to consider is to allow for employment by the hour rather than by the day. This would allow for more part-time employment and help bring more Thais into productive employment," he added.