Formal labor

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Many sectors, including construction in the capital, fisheries in the South and agriculture in border areas, are facing labour shortages due to the tough new labour law, sources said yesterday as migrant workers began returning to Thailand. A construction site of the Red Line train ...

The Thai government has agreed to set up stations across Thailand where Cambodian illegal migrant workers can register for documents that will allow them to stay and work in the country, Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng said at a news conference on Thursday. About 300,000 ...

Hundreds of Myanmar workers are going back to Thailand daily to work under the memorandum of agreement (MoU) between the two countries, even as thousands more illegal Myanmar migrants continue to return home, said the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population.Read more ...

Facing a backlash from employers and observers alike, Thailand has backtracked on a new, heavily criticised law that imposes stricter punishments on irregular workers and their employers, though thousands of Cambodians are still being deported.At the end of last month, Thailand passed a royal decree ...

Hundreds of unregistered Myanmar workers on Friday returned home as employees dared not hire them because of tougher punishments under the new executive decree on the recruitment of foreign workers, which imposes fines as high as 800,000 baht.Read more ...