Migrant worker squeeze – Businesses call for urgent state action

The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) said the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel was already affecting Thailand through higher energy costs, rising logistics expenses, export uncertainty and tourism risks.

Viboon Supakarapongkul, vice-chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and chairman of its Labour and Skills Development Committee, said the private sector estimated the crisis could reduce Thailand’s GDP by between 0.1% and 0.8%, depending on how severe the conflict becomes.

Although Thailand is not directly involved in the Middle East conflict, he warned that surging energy prices and higher trade costs posed a major challenge to economic stability.

“This is an economic time bomb that both the government and private sector must urgently prepare for,” he said.

Despite the risks, the JSCCIB believes Thailand could still benefit from some emerging opportunities. Supply shortages in certain countries may create export openings for Thai businesses, while instability in the Middle East could encourage some European tourists to choose ASEAN destinations, including Thailand, instead.

The group also said investors from the Middle East may increasingly view Thailand as a safe destination for living and investment, particularly in healthcare and wellness tourism.

However, business groups said the country’s worsening labour shortage remained one of the most serious concerns facing the private sector.

Thailand is now confronting long-term structural labour shortages across multiple industries as the country’s birth rate continues to decline and the domestic workforce shrinks. At the same time, restrictions on importing foreign workers have further intensified shortages at all skill levels, ranging from unskilled to highly skilled labour.

The JSCCIB said many businesses had formally complained about severe shortages of migrant workers, which were directly affecting operations, production capacity, services and overall competitiveness.

Industries facing the heaviest impact include construction, manufacturing, agriculture, seasonal fruit harvesting and service businesses, all sectors linked closely to Thailand’s wider economic activity and planned infrastructure investment projects in the second half of 2026.

Suchart Chantaranakaracha, vice-chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, said the private sector remained deeply concerned that there was still no clear or concrete government response to the migrant labour issue.

He urged the government to introduce both short-term and medium-term measures as quickly as possible.

One of the most urgent priorities, he said, was extending work permits for foreign workers already in Thailand to prevent them from falling into illegal status, which could later create broader security concerns.

The JSCCIB also proposed five urgent measures to tackle labour shortages.

1. The first recommendation calls for extensions of work permits for migrant workers of all nationalities currently residing in Thailand, alongside stricter background checks by security authorities and tighter employer oversight. Workers considered a threat to national security should be deported immediately, the group said.

The committee also urged provincial authorities in eastern fruit-growing provinces including Chanthaburi, Rayong, Trat, Prachin Buri and Sa Kaeo to coordinate with businesses to prepare labour management plans ahead of major harvest seasons.

2. Secondly, the group said migrant workers who had already left Thailand or entered the country illegally should not be eligible for renewed work permits.

3. Thirdly, it called for lower costs and fewer bureaucratic procedures for importing and registering foreign workers in order to reduce burdens on employers and retain sufficient labour supplies within Thailand.

4. The JSCCIB also urged authorities to urgently resolve technical problems affecting the Labour Ministry’s e-Work Permit system, which businesses say frequently crashes or becomes overloaded, preventing employers and workers from renewing permits on time.

According to the committee, the system also remains poorly integrated with databases from immigration, social security and public health agencies, forcing repeated data submissions and creating errors.

While the system is being improved, the group called on the Labour Ministry to temporarily allow parallel use of the previous registration system and coordinate with immigration authorities to ease enforcement against workers affected by technical problems.

5. Finally, the JSCCIB said Thailand should develop a longer-term strategy to reduce labour shortages by expanding labour import agreements with additional countries under government-to-government MOUs.

Potential new labour source countries could include Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Indonesia to help fill urgent labour gaps in key industries.

The committee stressed that the private sector fully supported the legal employment of migrant workers and was prepared to cooperate with the government.

However, it warned that if the labour crisis is not addressed quickly, many Thai businesses especially SMEs could face severe disruption, with wider consequences for the national economy.