Government, private sector push to replace workforce amid Cambodian worker exodus

The return home of Cambodian workers due to unrest along the Thai–Cambodian border has caused widespread disruption, though the impact is expected to be short-lived as the government and private sector work together to find replacements.

In Chanthaburi province alone, there is an immediate need for around 30,000 workers to help with agricultural harvests, particularly longans. The shortage is also projected to spread across industries, including construction, prompting the government to seek urgent solutions.

Kritsada Chanjamrassaeng, vice-president of the Thai Construction Industry Association under Royal Patronage, said there are typically over one million Cambodian workers in Thailand, both legal and undocumented, with some 200,000–300,000 employed in construction.

He noted that about 60% of Cambodian construction workers have returned home, causing a sudden and significant impact. The sector must now quickly secure replacement labour, potentially from Myanmar or other countries.

The government is under pressure to swiftly restructure the country’s labour supply system for the long term. Officials are urged to work closely with the private sector to assess labour losses project by project, to either source replacements or extend contracts where necessary, particularly for government projects.

Labour should be categorised to identify groups that can be quickly redeployed, such as mobile skilled workers like electricians, who could be cross-trained in additional skills. The government is also being called on to streamline legal procedures to speed up recruitment, modernise regulations, and adopt these reforms as a long-term operational framework.

This aligns with comments from Tanit Sorat, vice-president of the Employers’ Confederation of Thai Trade and Industry, who estimated that between 60,000–70,000 Cambodian workers have already returned home. Official figures vary: the Labour Ministry reports 50,000–60,000, Cambodian authorities claim about 700,000, and another Thai agency puts the figure at around 400,000.

Tanit noted that images showing large numbers of Cambodians returning home are often of entire families, including children, parents, and relatives, whose manner of entry into Thailand is unclear.

“In the bigger picture, before this exodus, there were around 520,000 Cambodian workers in the formal system and another 300,000 in the informal sector, totalling about 800,000,” he said. “The Cambodian figure seems exaggerated; if numbers were really that high, the impacts would be far more visible, for instance, shortages of seafood or a lack of construction workers.”

Assoc Prof Ath Pisalvanich, an independent scholar and expert in international and ASEAN economics, estimates that as of 2024, there were around 1.25 million Cambodian workers, both documented and undocumented, employed in Thailand. They play key roles in three main sectors: 300,000 in construction, 325,000 in agriculture, and 625,000 in services. 

Cambodian workers account for 20.8% of Thailand’s foreign labour force and 15.7% of all CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam) workers in the country.

As of August 13, no official figures have confirmed how many Cambodians have returned home, but projections suggest between 300,000 and 500,000 have already left. Based on this assumption, Thailand’s GDP could shrink by 234–390 billion baht, equivalent to 5.3–8.8%, with monthly losses of 19.5–32.5 billion baht. 

The services sector would take the hardest hit, followed by construction and agriculture. Overall, Cambodian labour accounts for around 5.2% of Thailand’s GDP, underscoring the country’s reliance on them.

The exodus is also hitting Cambodia’s own economy. Between 300,000 and 500,000 returning workers have no jobs to go back to, creating political and economic pressure on the Cambodian leadership. Lost income is estimated at 3–5 billion baht per month, or 36–60 billion baht annually, which could shave 3–4% off Cambodia’s GDP.

Ath proposed four measures to address the labour shortage:

• Urgently recruit replacement workers from Myanmar and Laos.
• Develop a 5–10-year strategy for replacing Cambodian labour.
• Attract more Thai workers by raising wages and offering financial incentives such as low-interest loans or tax breaks on interest.
• Study the feasibility of importing workers from Bangladesh or Sri Lanka.