Labor
Formal labor
Asean countries struggling with inadequate labour skills
About half the population of the Asean region live in rural areas and suffer from a shortage of quality jobs and underemployment. In addition, rural people lack training opportunities in line with the needs of the labour market and suffer from the traditional exclusion of ...
Survey ASEAN youth bullish about impacts of technology on employment
The youth of the ASEAN are highly optimistic about the impacts of technology on their job prospects and incomes, according to a survey from the World Economic Forum. Keep reading ...
The Truth About the New Laos Minimum Wage Hike
After months of deliberation, Laos’ Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith announced this week that the country’s minimum wage will increase from 900,000 kip ($108) to 1.1 million kip per month. This rise is set to take effect from early next month. []Unlike neighboring Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam, ...
David Hutt
Wages first, productivity later?
The January 2 decision by the National Committee for Designating Minimum Wage to increase the minimum wage has left many dissatisfied, particularly within the garment sector. []In Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam, the garment sectors are about six times more productive than in Myanmar, while Cambodia and ...
ANDREW THOMSON
Which Asian Country has the Highest and Lowest Unemployment Rates
Mongolia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Philippines have the highest employment rates in Asia. By contrast, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos post the lowest unemployment rates. Mongolia has the highest employment rate in Asia with 7.3 per cent. The country has seen a poor labour market with a ...
DataLEADS
Lao Factory Owners Say Proposed Wage Hike Will Shutter Businesses
Owners of garment factories and other businesses in Laos are rejecting a proposal to raise the minimum wage by as much as one-third, saying the increase in expenses would force them to shut down operations, despite reports of workers seeking opportunities elsewhere due to low ...
Radio Free Asia
Nearly one billion Asians in vulnerable jobs, says ILO
Despite decades of world-beating economic growth that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and into middle class life, around 900 million more Asian workers remain in what the International Labour Organization deems “vulnerable” employment.Keep reading ...
SIMON ROUGHNEEN
More Lao workers return home from Thailand
Many of an estimated 150,000 Lao labourers working in Thailand (both legally and illegally) have continued to return home after Thailand enforced regulations relating to employment of unregistered migrant workers. In Champassak province, many workers, notably those who entered Thailand illegally, returned home as they ...
Government to open centres for returning Lao workers
The government called on all Lao workers returning home from Thailand to register at forthcoming provincial assistance centres and acquire passports so they can be legally re-employed in Thailand. The government this week confirmed it will open centres this month in the Labour and Social ...
Return migration no impact on Thai-Myanmar trade
Despite the decline in import flow from Thailand at the Myawaddy border trade camp, the return of Myanmar workers from Thailand last month has no significant impact on bilateral trade, assistant secretary of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) U Khin Maung Lwin told The Myanmar Times.Myanmar ...
