Labour Minister Mr. Suchart Chomklin gave words of encouragement to the workforce on the occasion of the National Labour Day of 2021 to overcome the Covid-19 crisis together. The government and the Ministry of Labour recognize the importance of the workforce as a major cog in driving the country’s economy. It is ready to drive the policy to improve the quality of life and care for the workforce.
On May 1, 2021, Labour Minister Mr. Suchart Chomklin revealed that on the National Labour Day of 2021, the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister and Minister of Defense General Prayuth Chan-ocha and Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, who supervises the Ministry of Labour, recognize the importance of the workforce. Therefore, the Ministry of Labour has been assigned to celebrate and send good wishes to the workforce and workers of all occupations at home and abroad. On the National Labour Day this year, the Labour Minister, therefore, took the opportunity to thank the workers who have contributed to the stability of the economy and society and wished for all workers to have happiness, good health, free from diseases, and safe from Covid-19.
Mr. Suchart said that the Ministry of Labour’s policies operates in the following five dimensions to improve the workforces’ quality of life: 1) On skill development following the needs of the labour market through up-skills, re-skills, and new skills, focusing on new occupations after the Covid-19 situation is resolved. It aims to organize online training courses for both formal and informal workers, such as English for communication and techniques for selling products online. Funding will be supported from the Skill Development Fund to allow entrepreneurs to develop employee skills in the workplace. 2) On employment, providing job opportunities both domestically and abroad, whereby there are currently over 200,000 positions available. It aims to support employment in the area, maintain employment conditions, and develop a platform to support job applications by developing an application linked between employers, workers, and training institutions to provide ease, convenience, and speed. Efforts will improve the skills of Thai workers who plan to work abroad by providing knowledge to Thai workers before traveling to work in foreign countries, such as language, technology, law, culture, and livelihood skills and knowledge in each country. 3) On labour protection and welfare, by improving the quality of life of workers after retirement under the ‘well-bred workers’ scheme, which will be piloted in 9 establishments as a model, so that workers who are prepared to retire can apply knowledge according to the sufficiency economy philosophy to use in their occupations to increase their income and support themselves after retirement. It aims to improve legislation to be in line with the current situation by considering all of the Ministry of Labour’s legislation, ensuring no duplication, making important amendments to be in line with the current labour conditions. The efforts aim to tackle human trafficking to reach the Tier 1 category by directing relevant officials to strictly conduct site inspections and enforce the law, including promoting awareness among employers to ensure legal employment of migrant workers, eliminating child labour or forced labour. It also aims to enhance the quality of life of informal workers by providing care, protection, promotion, and career development by improving the objectives and details of the Home Worker Fund to cover informal workers in all occupations, caring for and protecting vulnerable workers (the elderly, the disabled, the socially disadvantaged) by promoting and developing their occupation to find the right jobs to do and build social security. 4) On building social security, providing proactive Covid-19 screening for insured persons following the “Workforce Fighting Together” project, collaborating with the Ministry of Interior in Bangkok, provincial governors, and the NHSO. The Covid-19 screening is conducted in five provinces, including Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Chonburi, Chiang Mai, and Samut Prakan. This will continue until the pandemic situation is resolved. It aims to accelerate compensation in unemployment from the Covid-19 impact to provide insurers with remedies for daily expenses amid the pandemic. Efforts also look to provide loans to entrepreneurs to maintain employment in the amount of 30,000 million Baht to help entrepreneurs maintain employment conditions, and to establish a medical institution for workers as a hospital under the Social Security Office to provide medical services to insured persons in the social security system; and 5) On technological development for labour services, to improve the labour database system to be more efficient by creating Big Data on the workforce, and to link with relevant departments effectively. Efforts aim to develop a service system for Thai workers working abroad by developing a system of Line official account called ‘Nong Sitthi’ to serve as a communication channel, where users can ask about various benefits and download the benefits guide and basic information in the country where they work, such as the minimum wage, working hours and holidays for example.
“I would like to encourage the workforce to overcome the Covid-19 crisis together, to improve the quality of life and take care of the workforce, to develop workers to have high potential, have stability, and the ability to sustain their livelihoods,” concluded Mr. Suchart.
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Division of Public Relations
1 May 2021
