Thailand has approved the recruitment of 10,000 Sri Lankan workers to address a labour shortage caused by the return of Cambodian workers amid renewed border tensions, a senior Thai official announced on Tuesday.
Facing an ageing population and a shrinking domestic workforce, Thailand relies on over three million registered foreign workers in agriculture, construction, and manufacturing, according to International Labour Organization data.
Thailand’s Labour Minister Pongkawin Jungrungruangkit said that more than 30,000 Sri Lankan workers have already registered, with 10,000 to be deployed in the initial phase. He added that workers from Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines will also have opportunities under the new policy.
The recruitment drive follows a deadly border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia last month, which left at least 43 people dead and displaced over 300,000. Although the two countries have agreed to a fragile ceasefire, the crisis has intensified Thailand’s labour gap as thousands of Cambodian workers returned home.
