On February 24, 2022, Labour Minister Mr. Suchart Chomklin revealed that the COVID-19 situation had impacted the country’s tourism and service sectors, which are an important source of income. But at the same time, the export sector with over 2 million workers in 4 sectors has grown, namely in food, medical equipment, automotive and electronic parts, which is the result of implementing the Factory Sandbox project by the Ministry of Labour, following government policy. It has supported export businesses on continuous employment, and entrepreneurs can continue their business. This reflects the success of the Factory Sandbox project, which is a government policy under the leadership of Prime Minister and Minister of Defense General Prayuth Chan-ocha, and the Ministry of Labour under the supervision of Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan. The Ministry of Labour has worked with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Industry to carry out such projects with “Economics and Public Health principles.” The projects carried out COVID-19 testing and treatment in 12 provinces for 730 enterprises, 349,016 employees, including carrying COVID-19 vaccinations for 112,746 employees to build immunity for workers and confidence in driving the economy from the manufacturing sector to investors in large-scale manufacturing enterprises. It is a mechanism that supports the country’s economy and stimulates its consumption and exports.
Mr. Suchart continued that the Ministry of Commerce’s data revealed that exports in December 2021 grew by 17.14 percent, the highest in 11 years, surpassing the target valued at 271 billion USD. This results from the government’s policy to stimulate employment to support the economy. In particular, the Factory Sandbox program helped support over 30 percent of manufacturing jobs out of 11 million insured persons, enabling the industrial economy to move forward.
“The government’s Factory Sandbox policy has helped solve COVID-19 issues faced by entrepreneurs in the export sector to prevent factory clusters and further spread so that the country can move forward. It has helped build confidence for both Thai and foreign investors and has maintained over 3 million jobs in the manufacturing and export sectors,” said Mr. Suchart.
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Division of Public Relations
24 February 2022
