FTI, Jetro worried about effect on skilled-labour pool
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The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) expects flood-hit manufacturers to resume full production within three to 10 months, chairman Payungsak Chartsuthipol said.
Meanwhile, the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) expressed its concern for workers after several plants were paralysed by the floods.
Payungsak said the FTI was waiting for the situation to improve so that it could evaluate the impact on the industrial sector. However, it worries that workers are likely to lose their jobs, particularly subcontractors and daily labourers, if plants take several months to resume production.
Subcontractors account for 30-40 per cent of workers in the industrial sector. These are skilled labourers. Large-scale companies should help alleviate this problem, Payungsak said.
Setsuo Iuchi, president of Jetro, said his organisation was also concerned about the workers, as Thailand is a manufacturing base for Japanese companies. These investors are not thinking about relocating to other countries, so it is important to keep skilled workers, he said.
