Thailand faces electronic exodus

Could lose half its positions in 3 years

Published: 12 Jun 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: Business

Thailand risks losing its status as electrical and electronics manufacturing hub in Asean and losing half the sector's employment, some 100,000 jobs over the next three years, if it doesn't improve its skilled labour.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra addresses the AEC 2015 forum at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center yesterday. Businessmen warned Thailand has lost its competitiveness in skilled human resources. In addition, the minimum wage hike to 300 baht per day in April has made Thai wages uncompetitive with Malaysia. KOSOL NAKACHOL

Sampan Silapanad, president of the Electronics and Computer Employers' Association, said Thailand has lost its competitiveness in skilled human resources. In addition, the minimum wage hike to 300 baht per day in April has made Thai wages uncompetitive with Malaysia.

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bluebottle
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Discussion 25 : 13 Jun 2012 at 16.3425
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How can paying a measly 300 bht a day break the bank.Not to train and expect these people to produce high productivity will break the bank . Modernise and train is the only way forward to expect poor production standards to be propped up by low wages certainly is not. We had an industrial revolution 200 years ago remember.
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samut
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Discussion 24 : 12 Jun 2012 at 18.1624
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Disc. 23: There are hard working people in the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos and of course in Singapore and Malaysia and many of the hard working people in Thailand are from some of the countries mentioned above and after 2015 they might come to Thailand competing with the locals and than what counts; skill and language and employers will try to find out who will be the one. In just 3 years from now we will have an answer.
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wantmyony
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Discussion 23 : 12 Jun 2012 at 17.0223
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Frankly none of the 10 asean countries is ready for AEC, the recent financial crisis in EU and the high umemployement rate in most EU countries serve as a wake up call of what is to come if different economic level were to integrate. What is happening in EU could happen to AEC in 10 years or maybe shorter. China is a very big country with huge population it can create its own giant domestic market much like US did after WW2, it doesnt need to compete with asean countries for customers or markets. Thailand need not worry about losing electronic industries, it is still the only site where they can find hardworking people. Malaysia would not be takin electronic industries because its workers are just as bad as cambodia, theft and absent from work is very common in malaysia. Thailand need to maintain its heavy industry and food processing industries, it also need a new economic minister.
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khunbj
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Discussion 22 : 12 Jun 2012 at 15.5722
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In every country of the world the part representing the industry will claim that it's workforce should reduce the wages, be better educated etc...that is the name of the game, in Thailand Mr Sampan is no exception however here he is contradicted by the facts unfortunately, the industry is doing fine and will continue to do so also in the future.
Mr Sampan's statement is more political than practical unfortunately and thus not very constructive.
But a recommendation to Mr Sampan could be to make the industry be more active in educating the workforce to it's specific needs, such specialized workers can not be provided on a silver-platter here or anywhere else, so Mr Sampan show some responsibility and get back to work.
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teecee
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Discussion 21 : 12 Jun 2012 at 14.0321
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As usual we are standing around discussing how to close the stable door, whilst watching the "horse" (i.e. opportunity)disappear over the horizon! TIT - as it ever was.
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spiceman
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Discussion 20 : 12 Jun 2012 at 12.5320
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Khun Just-1-voice #8, I'm not trying to blaming PTP, or whipping a dead horse or trying to make the previous AV Administration looks good, but the current AG Minister and his disastrous record confirmed that last year's flooding catastrophe had nothing to do with anybody else but himself. His misguided action or rather inaction during that 2 full critical months prior to the opening of the dams' emergency spillways, is what caused the catastrophe. The only consolation is that he confessed to his rather both deadliest and costliest MISTAKE. However, the rest of your points are right on the mark!
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dao
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Discussion 19 : 12 Jun 2012 at 12.2519
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Maybe offering tax incentives to businesses that want to retrain staff would be a way to upgrade skills .
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whatajoke
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Discussion 18 : 12 Jun 2012 at 12.1018
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Thailand's success's of the past 30m years has been based on cheap labour for the most part, which is now no longer the cheapest labour in Asia, symptomatic of a growing economy where manufacturing becomes so widespread you end up with a 2% unemployment rate, so you decide there's room to push the minimum wage up, but instead of doing it bit by bit you make a sweeping leap which has no parallel skills improvement justification, so manufacturing will gradually move offshore where they can get more skills for the same minimum wage. Sound economic policy would have promised all the voters a rise of 50% in minimum wages over a three year period that is accompanied by a nation-wide vocational skills training program.
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john

Discussion 17 : 12 Jun 2012 at 12.0217
Recently, when researching a paper on teacher employment in Asia, I came across a statistic which said that some 38% of teachers in Thailand are due to reach retirement by the middle of this decade. If correct (BP can confirm?) then is this a blessing or a curse .....
from iPhone application.
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samut
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Discussion 16 : 12 Jun 2012 at 11.1916
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Approximately 6 years ago the Vietnamese Minister of Education stated that (approx.) one million teacher will have to “go back to school” and have professionals including foreigners teaching them how to teach students; furthermore he stressed English language will be an important part of the program. The interesting thing is that teachers and students welcomed the move and now we can see the difference with many Vietnamese speaking English and having a better education. The problem in Thailand to my understanding is that neither teachers nor students are really interested to see changes.
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Thailand faces electronic exodus | Bangkok Post: business