On November 28, 2022, the Labour Minister, Mr. Suchart Chomklin, presided over the opening speech of the Assistant Minister’s Committee Meeting No. 10/2022. Assistant to the Labour Minister, Mr. Surachai Chaitrakulthong, the Assistant Minister’s Committee, the Ministry of Labour’s executives, and the meeting’s attendees have a welcome. The Ministry of Labour was honored to host this meeting at the Ampol Singhakowin Meeting Room, 6th floor, Social Security Office Administration Building, Nonthaburi Province, and online via teleconferencing system.
Mr. Suchart said the Ministry of Labour was honored to host this Assistant Minister’s Committee meeting. He said that the meeting is of great importance. This is because the Assistant Minister’s Committee members are considered an important part of considering and evaluating the performance of the Assistant Ministers and recommending measures that are beneficial to the Cabinet of State affairs administration or the Ministers. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted businesses and workers widely throughout the two years that the Labour Minister has been in his role, in which important measures were launched to help the workforce and establishments. For example, in 2021, it launched stationary and proactive COVID testing stations in factories to create immunity among the workforce so that the private sector could continue to operate; 409,972 people tested for COVID-19. In May 2021, workers were not vaccinated. Therefore, it has requested immunization support for over 11 million workers, whereby 3,962,206 doses have been used to vaccinate the workforce. In August 2021, factories shut down due to COVID-19 outbreaks inside the factory. The Ministry of Labour organized the Factory Sandbox project, based on economic and public health principles, aimed at key export manufacturing sectors such as the automotive, food, electronic parts, and medical equipment industries in 12 provinces. A total of 730 factories, with 407,770 workers, participated in RT-PCR testing, which detected 11,298 infected people, all of whom have entered the treatment process and received vaccinations. As a result of the project, the factories continued to operate, and the manufacturing sector’s exports hit their highest point in 30 years.
Mr. Suchart continued that there were efforts to support SMEs to maintain employment. The government subsidized 235,933 businesses, promoting new employment of 66,201 employers, employing over 3.2 million employees. It offered a subsidy of over 27 million Baht in support. There was a minimum wage adjustment following the current situation in which the prices of consumer goods are rising, allowing the workers to live properly. The adjustment was effective on October 1, 2022. The International Occupational Safety and Health Academic Seminar Project presented 41 projects. The 34th National Occupational Safety and Health Project had 13,775 participants in the exhibition. There was also the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Skill Development and Benefits Entitlements to public transport drivers (taxis), food delivery, and parcel delivery workers between the Social Security Office, the Department of Skill Development, and GrabTaxi (Thailand) Co., Ltd. The initiative aims to develop drivers to enhance their career skills and access to social security rights, also improving their services. Furthermore, there was the Social Employment Promotion Project for Persons with Disabilities to give rights to people with disabilities or their caregivers under section 35 to help people with disabilities in remote areas gain career opportunities and self-sufficiency. Additionally, the Ministry of Labour has operations in many areas that aim for Thailand’s economic growth through happy workers with a good quality of life and living with stability and sustainability.
Data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that analyzed global economic trends in the October 2022 issue found that Thailand’s unemployment rate is “the lowest in the world.” Even last year, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment dropped to only 1.5%, which is second only to Kuwait, with a population of 4 million. Thailand is one of the few countries where the IMF expects positive economic growth, where the GDP will rise from 2.8 to 3.7. In Asia, only Thailand and China, 3.2 to 4.4, are expected to have a positive GDP, excluding Hong Kong and Macau. This reflects the importance of the various government policies during COVID-19, which has enabled the Thai economy to recover significantly.
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Division of Public Relations
28 November 2022
