Demand for labour expected to continue growing in auto sector

ManpowerGroup Thailand surveyed leading domestic automobile groups, medium-sized enterprises and car-parts companies. It found that labour for these groups was in greater demand than in the past. 

They face fluctuations due to the current domestic economic trends and the effects of the upcoming Asean Economic Community (AEC).  This is combined with escalating demands for skilled labour specialising in specific fields to support the automobile-manufacturing bases in Thailand and the fact that the country will become a major used-car hub in the future.

Simon Matthews, ManpowerGroup’s manager for Thailand, Vietnam and the Middle East, said future labour opportunities for Thailand’s automobile industry would definitely grow  judging from current demand. 

With more than 15 years of experience, Manpower is able to observe labour-market demands in various groups. The growing demand for labour in the auto industry will last for at least two or three years, it said. 

The first visible point is the domestic boom in first-car purchases. Increased market demands will lead to an expansion of the labour force when it comes to offices, maintenance, post-sale services and familiarity as more vehicles are used while engines need to be serviced or replaced. 

In an assessment of this year’s increase in the number of automobiles, the group expects to see the addition of no fewer than 600,000 automobiles of all sizes on the Kingdom’s roads. 

Matthews added that labour demands in the industry would rise to another level with the opening of the AEC. Given clear support and laws for establishing manufacturing and distribution factories, more automobile companies are expected to establish production bases here, encouraged by the country’s proximity to Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia and the advantages of deep seaports. 

Labour demands will be amplified along with the growth in the production, assembly and parts segments. For the foreseeable future, corporations and smaller companies will continue to rely on skilled labour for jobs that cannot be performed by machines. 

A glance at previous wages shows this group of labourers was already making more than Bt300 per day before that was made the minimum, while companies provided cost-effective benefits because of high product value. Hence this group of labour is not affected by the new minimum wage, while maintaining higher market demands.

“In getting Thailand ready [for growth in this industry], we are looking at developing vocational and engineering youth groups required for administration and skilled-labour occupations,” Matthews said. “These corporations need skilled labour to work in support of growing future market demands. Automobile enterprises will have additional clarity in the future consisting of new-automobile sales, high-quality used automobiles and more types of maintenance facilities.

“Our expectations are a boost in competition in the automobile markets, offering good and inexpensive services with efficient equipment and instruments. If we push for skills in Thai workers, there will be no reason to fear the inflows of foreign labour with the launch of the Asean Economic Community in 2015.” 

Matthews added that the survey findings provided good operational data for Thai labour in the vocational, mechanical and engineering fields for quality personnel capable of answering market demands. 

At present, 200,000-300,000 workers in these groups are in demand per year, thus indicating Thailand’s ongoing position as one of the top 10 countries manufacturing the most automobiles in the world. 

“We believe in the capacity of Thai labour in the automobile industry as quality labour in demand by domestic and foreign markets as long as it is supported by domestic education and the private sector,” he said.