The government should encourage Thai workers to upgrade their skills including language study to gain an advantage in the South Korean job market, according to a labour researcher.
Samarn Laodamrongchai, an academic at Chulalongkorn University's East Asian Studies Institute, said providing Thai job seekers with professional and language skills will likewise address the problem of illegal workers, or "little ghosts".
In-depth research on legal and illegal Thai workers in South Korea has indicated numerous Thais registered under South Korea's Employment Permit System (EPS) have become illegal migrants because they are not allowed to change jobs.
In South Korea, foreign workers are allowed to change jobs a maximum of five times throughout their stay: three times in the first three years of employment and two more times after contract renewal.
Thais have been found to change jobs for a number of reasons. The two most common reasons are better pay and problems associated with language barriers.
Mr Samarn said Thai labour officials in South Korea should encourage Thai workers to improve their Korean-language skills at learning centres.
Mobile meetings also should be held in provinces where Thai workers are employed to provide direct assistance.
He added that labour officials are an important contact for Thai workers registered under the EPS.
About three-quarters of Thai male workers in South Korea are employed in manufacturing and have been granted a non-professional (E-9) visa. However, South Korea is looking to hire more skilled workers who hold an E-7 visa which allows for a longer stay in the country. He said the Thai government should speed up all efforts to enhance Thai workers' skills and equip them for better jobs at higher pay.
Citing Department of Employment figures, Surachai Chaitrakulthong, an assistant to the labour minister, said only a small number of legal Thai workers will eventually become little ghosts, as the problem is mainly due to illegal entry into South Korea.
Mr Surachai also said he was not surprised to hear of media reports that a South Korean minister disagreed with a proposal to relax regulations against some 390,000 illegal migrant workers. Such a hardline stance is normal in the South Korean political context and so not unexpected.
Figures provided by the South Korean embassy in Thailand show as of December last year, 18,221 Thai nationals were legally employed in the country. The number of illegal workers, meanwhile, was estimated at 140,000.