The Deputy Labour Minister had a discussion with the United Nations on preparing to promote careers among women, vulnerable groups, and migrant workers, strengthening the private sector’s role in recovering from the Covid-19 crisis.
On January 11, 2021, Deputy Labour Minister Prof. Narumon Pinyosinwat met with Dr. Naksit Sakdaphat, Women Policy Specialist from United Nations Thailand (UN Thailand), and the team on the role of the private sector and Covid-19 prevention among women, vulnerable groups, and migrant workers. The meeting discussed cooperation in promoting careers among each group. Advisor to the Deputy Labour Minister M.L. Puntrik Smiti and working group also attended the occasion at the Special Reception Room, 6th floor, Ministry of Labour.
The Deputy Labour Minister said that the Ministry of Labour’s Department of Skill Development’s (DSD) mission is implemented in three parts. This includes creating a quality workforce to have the knowledge and ability to meet the labour market’s needs and support the S-curve industries by having a subcommittee representing various departments to join as a working group to drive such work in training to up-skill and re-skill and assess skill standards. The last part provides opportunities for vulnerable groups, women, and people with disabilities, to provide them with equal access to careers as others. It also includes skills training for those with state welfare cards. One of these groups is women who want to have a career.
The Deputy Labour Minister continued that the Covid-19 outbreak has impacted the workforce greatly. From visiting the area, it was found that the majority of the target audience are women affected by Covid-19, joining training courses such as cooking, selling online products, and handicrafts. Women workers are grouped, already creating products for sale in the community. The DSD will access and add value to the knowledge, as Skill Development Institutes and Skill Development Offices are in all provinces. It uses mechanisms to link through the provincial governors and provincial labour officers, to integrate and make implementation easier. It has received cooperation from private companies such as Huawei Technology (Thailand) Co., Ltd., on training the installation of telecommunication transmission systems in 4G and 5G systems with the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) to train workers to know about e-commerce. The efforts help workers in each area to obtain opportunities to develop their skills, together with the Digital Industry Manpower Development Association (DIDA) that will be established. If the UN takes part in skill development, the efforts will help women workers, as women workers will be the first to be affected by employment terminations.
Dr. Naksit Sakdaphat, an expert in women’s policy from United Nations Thailand (UN Thailand), added that this year there are two big projects to support women upcountry to conduct their own business. It focuses on single mothers and female farmers, as this group has difficulty accessing technology. Therefore, efforts will be made to maximize local resources and link the distribution to the market. If the workers can see the marketing channels, they will be able to expand their businesses on their own, with government agencies to support connecting the markets for both the public and private sectors. This will enable this group of women to make products and distribute them through UN-coordinated channels to help women escape the Covid-19 crisis.
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Division of Public Relations
11 January 2021
