From today, displaced people from Myanmar, who have taken shelter in any of the nine camps near the Thai-Myanmar border in Tak, Mae Hong Son, Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi provinces, can leave their camps to work outside for a maximum of one year.
The new measure will help to ease the labour shortage following the mass exodus of Cambodian workers in the aftermath of the armed conflict in late July.
Pichet Thongphan, inspector general of the labour ministry, said today that unskilled displaced Burmese people will be the first group to be allowed to leave their camps to work outside in 17 northern provinces, 18 central provinces, including Bangkok, and eight eastern provinces.
He disclosed that several Thai employers have shown interest in hiring as many as 6,152 unskilled workers in construction, farming, livestock and fishing sectors, as well as electrical appliance sales people.
He said that employers or brokers can select the employees at the camps or specify the number of employees they need and the work location to the provincial offices of the Department of Employment Services. Alternatively, the displaced people can look for jobs via the provincial employment service offices.
They will be subjected to medical checkups and granted work permits, which will allow them to work for one year before they leave the refugee camps.
Meanwhile, Sivavong Sukthawee, advisor to Thailand Migration Reform Consortium, said this is the first time in 41 years that displaced persons from Myanmar are being allowed to leave their camps to work outside, adding that this temporary policy is a far cry from the old policy that kept them confined in refugee camps and dependent on aid from international relief agencies, which is steadily drying up.
Some displaced people have been living in border camps for more than two decades, without the chance to work outside to earn income to help their families.
Anothai Niamsamrong, president of the Sugarcane Farmers Association in Wang Nam Yen, Sa Kao province, said sugarcane plantations in eastern provinces are experiencing an acute shortage of labour.
He said that tens of thousands of sugarcane cutters are needed for the upcoming harvest, as machinery can harvest 60% of the crop at most.
To avoid the burning of sugarcane, to reduce PM 2.5 particles in the atmosphere, he said more workers are required.
