The Social Innovation Foundation and committee met with the Labour Minister to congratulate him on the occasion of taking his position as Labour Minister, and to discuss plans to expand work and career opportunities for people with disabilities in 2020 – 2021 to support the Covid-19 situation.
On September 11, 2020, Labour Minister Mr. Suchart Chomklin welcomed the Social Innovation Foundation and committee to congratulate him on his appointment as Labour Minister and discuss plans to expand work and career opportunities for people with disabilities in 2020 – 2021 to support the Covid-19 situation. The meeting took place at the Prasong Rananant meeting room, 5th floor, Ministry of Labour. The Labour Minister said that Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha had entrusted the Labour Minister to especially resolve labour problems. The request from the Social Innovation Foundation and committee today is from themselves and their partners who have joined forces, combining over 6,000 people with disabilities and their caregivers to have access to employment and self-reliance in their homeland. As the Labour Minister, he cannot remain silent. He must listen to the problems and work together to resolve them to ensure equality among all parties. Today, the government is organizing the JOB EXPO THAILAND 2020 between September 26-28, 2020, at the BITEC Bangna Exhibition and Convention Center. The event will allow the unemployed to meet with companies and match job vacancies as desired; there are 1,000,000 vacancies. Representatives from the Social Innovation Foundation have proposed the Ministry of Labour to increase employment and occupation of 10,000 people with disabilities within six months by taking proactive actions for such groups to access to companies that still employ persons with disabilities under the law and promote contributions to the Promotion and Development Fund for the Quality of Life of Persons with Disabilities under Section 34 with over 15,000 positions, to switch to supporting the employment of the socially disabled or financial support for occupation under Section 35 to meet the above goals. Employment offices in every province across the country have received registration for the exercise of rights under Section 35 from the disabled and caregivers, get advice and check the documents supporting their rights, and record the registration information for rights under Section 35 online the Department of Employment. It will also extend the time to apply for permission to proceed according to Section 35 for another three months to have sufficient processing time.
There are over 500,000 working-age people with disabilities who do not yet have job and career opportunities. Meanwhile, some workplaces are unable to hire the full amount required by law and have contributed to the mutual fund totaling over 1,700 million Baht in 2019, representing over 15,000 wasted job opportunities for people with disabilities, all of which can be instantly converted to employment for people with disabilities. That is, if there is the continued expansion of proactive efforts to drive results, and the government sector is responsible for setting goals that need to be achieved urgently, with network partners working together to support as well.
