Workers urged to boost English

Blue collar workers need to brush up their English to prepare for the advent of free labour markets across Asean in 2015, experts say.

Barriers to the free movement of labour across national boundaries will be lifted first for professionals such as doctors and accountants.

However, the policy will eventually expand to cover blue collar workers as well, Chali Loisung, chairman of the Thai electronics and electrical appliance federation, said. These workers have been urged to join English training programmes. However, they have little free time to improve their language skills.

Many semi-skilled and unskilled workers who earn low wages work overtime to support their families.

That deprives them of the opportunity to learn English, Mr Chali said.

"I don't want Thailand to miss the boat," Mr Chali said. Thai workers who cannot speak English well could lose opportunities when looking for work overseas, even when their skills match those of their competitors.

"It's still not clear what we should do to help workers in the industrial sector," he said. If the problem continues, workers with reasonable English from countries such as Singapore and Malaysia could steal a march on their Thai rivals in industries such as energy, logistics and information technology, Mr Chali said.

The Department of Skill Development has launched plans to develop workers' English language skills, especially in the automobile and other high technology industries, department chief Praphan Monthakantiwong said. His department aims to develop the skills of workers in 140 fields, ranging from tourism and hotel businesses to driving and sewing jobs. Yongyut Chalaemwong, a researcher at Thailand Development Research Institute, urged the Labour Ministry to also spend labour training budgets more effectively.

"We can no longer spend extravagantly on training," he said. In the past, state training programmes focused on the number of trainees rather than their quality. He suggested the government play a more active role as a regulator to better target and choose prospective trainees and ensure them of satisfactory outcomes after training.

Agencies should cooperate with one another to develop workers' skills, especially their English, he said.