Labour Minister General Sirichai Distakul gave a speech after the meeting with the Public Sector Network and Thai workers abroad. He said that the meeting’s agenda was to follow up progress on works in accordance with the government’s strategies. He commended Udon Thani province in driving the missions through collaboration with other government units and being a model for other provinces. Udon Thani has the lowest unemployment rate, with a 6.1 percent growth rate on employment, a 5.2 percent increase in business establishment and the highest number of Thai workers abroad which generates over 1 trillion Baht annually for the nation. In addition to this, international employers have commended Thai workers with comments on diligence, determination and good behaviour. He said that the Ministry of Labour would support overseas employment through training and coordinating with foreign countries to ensure protection of Thai workers abroad.
General Sirichai continued about the Ministry of Labour’s support on policies regarding welfare management for lower-income workers, whereby increasing benefits for informal workers insured under Section 40. In 2018, the benefits design will be complete in order to allow over 20 million informal workers to receive similar benefits formal workers such as training, urgent employment and skills development initiatives and assistive measures to natural disaster victims or seasonal unemployment. There is also a plan to relieve problems experienced by informal workers, where training will be piloted first with 1 million workers nationwide. The efforts aim to reduce social inequality, promote employment, income and eliminate poverty. He also shared that the Isan region has 5.9 million informal workers.
Permanent Secretary of Labour M.L. Puntrik Smiti explained that labour volunteers are an importance mechanism in delivering the ministry’s services to local areas, which mostly require skills development during non-harvesting seasons. She said the Ministry of Labour was still in demand for labour volunteers in sub districts, district and communities, and that the ministry would consider budget allocation to support demand.
The Permanent Secretary explained that 14 million people had registered as low-income workers; 5 million from this statistic received an earning of less than 30,000 Baht per year. The 2018 budget will focus on skills development for this population, including informal, senior and handicapped workers. The training will aim to improve skills, create employment and income to eliminate poverty. She said that the program was in the design phase before presentation to the government.
———————————————-
Spokesperson and Publication Sub-Division/
Bureau of Public Relations/
Chaninthorn Phettab- News/
Sompob Silbut – Photos/
18 August 2017
