Thailand needs half a million foreign workers to drive economy

Thailand is in need of about 500,000 foreign workers in its manufacturing and services sectors to support an economic recovery from the pandemic after the government lifted almost all Covid-related travel and business restrictions. Poj Aramwattananont, vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said they will need more workers going forward because they have lots of major infrastructure projects and they also have many services-sector jobs that need to be filled. More than 300,000 foreign workers were estimated to have left Thailand since the pandemic started, with only about 20,000 having returned this year under the bilateral contracts between Thailand and some peers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Aside from formally registering those illegal workers from Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Cambodia, the government also extended the expiring work permits for about 1.7 million people through 2025.