• Struggling for survival
• 'Washed up' fishermen turn carpenter and build their own boats
• 'Tsunami village' rises from rubble
• Inspired by Church aid, sea gypsies turn to Christ
• Foreign aid crucial
• Body ID center looks future
• Shoddy housing doesn't make a home
• Outside volunteer carves new career in housing
• Counting the costs to the environment
• Underwater tourist trails
• Turtle hatchery at risk after waves
• Where the money went
• Covered for everything but the wave
• Corporations learn that caring counts
• Starting again from scratch
• Swedish survivor gains perspective after wave 'turned my life upside-down'
• Reasons to smile
• Justice will prevail, investor believes
• Courage and resilience ease personal pain
• Help wanted
• Second chance to get it right
• Tide turns on tourist demographics in Khao Lak
• Light on the horizon
• One day at a time
• Widows and orphans left out in the cold
• Art for the heart
HELP AND CLEAN-UP
Help wanted
As Phangnga rebuilds, key economic sectors struggle to find workers
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| Jobs for the asking: Hoteliers seek people for positions of all kinds, and the fishery industry anticipates an acute shortage. |
PHANGNGA - Jobs for the asking: Hoteliers seek people for positions of all kinds, and the fishery industry anticipates an acute shortage.
The unimaginable ruin of lives and properties at Khao Lak raised questions in many people's minds about how long it would take to restore business activity and the way of life there.
But one year later, with help and contributions from everywhere, business operators in the area are more optimistic about prospects for the next year. At the same time, though, they have concerns about the rise of new problems.
''Business operators here are raising concerns over a possible labour shortage in various fields next year. The most affected sectors will be tourism, services and fishery,'' says Amnuay Sriyotha, head of the Phangnga Labour Office.
After the tsunami, 93 hotels and tourism accommodations in Khao Lak - representing 5,200 of the area's 6,000 rooms - were damaged with a total value put at 6.7 billion baht. Authorities estimated that the wave wiped out 4,500 of the 5,000 jobs that the properties had provided.
But as hotels rebuild and reopen, operators are encountering a shortage of hotel staff due to two reasons. First, many of their former staff were killed by the waves, while those who fear another tsunami have moved out of the area to work in other tourist destinations.
Mr Amnuay said business operators believe workers in the services industry will be in short supply next year when many hotels resume services after receiving government financial help.
''The Association of Tourism Business Operators in Phangnga forecasts 30-50% of total accommodation capacity will resume operation next year and will reach 100% in the next three to four years from now.''
In addition, he said, another 1,000 rooms - bringing the total to 6,000 once all rebuilding is done - are expected to be seen in Khao Lak in the next few years due to the arrival of new investors and changes of ownership in some properties. The factors will expedite competition.
''Our problem now is how to attract former workers who had worked here back to the area. Actually, most of the workers who had worked in Khao Lak had moved from other provinces, while young Phangnga residents mostly prefer to work others, particularly Phuket,'' said Mr Amnuay.
To reduce the potential labour shortage, the Phangnga Labour Office has been cooperating with the International Labour Organisation and the Kenan Institute Asia as well as the tourism operators' association to arrange training. In addition, the office is holding talks with schools about developing on-the-job training courses that will allow students to work for tourism service businesses and receive credit hours.
Another serious labour issue in Phangnga is a shortage of foreign workers, mainly from Burma.
The Thap Lamu Fishery Association recently submitted an official letter to the Phangnga Labour Office asking it to specially open registrations for new groups of Burmese workers in the fishery activities that have been resuming.
Boonchoo Phaeyai, the association's president, said the request was made based on the progress of boat repairs and expectations of future activity. Many are ready to go to sea but their new Burmese crews are not legally registered.
''After the tsunami, most of our registered foreign workers died with the wave and some went back their homes out of fear of a new fatal calamity. Currently, we can find new workers but they can't work without licences,'' said Mr Boonchoo.
He said there were more than 1,000 foreign workers for about 150 commercial fishery boats in Thap Lamu before the tsunami. The tsunami wiped out almost all of the boats and only 300-400 workers remained.
''That number of remaining foreign workers would be fine if we had a small number of boats as in the first half or the first nine months of this year,'' he said. ''But almost all of the boats are now ready for service so we need workers. Unfortunately, for this type of work, it's impossible to find Thais to do it.''
Mr Amnuay said the Labour Ministry was introducing a pilot project to bring Laotian workers to Songkhla under a co-operative agreement that the Thai government signed with Laos, Cambodia and Burma.The pilot project is successful, he says, it will be expanded to other areas, including Phangnga.
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