Laos government vows to ‘produce’ skilled workers
The Laos government is committed to producing skilled workers so they can be employed on projects funded by foreign investors, the country’s Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Onchanh Thammavong, said at a press conference ion Vientiane last week during the government’s annual meeting with provincial governors.
She was commenting on the fact that foreign-operated and -funded projects are not employing a sufficiently large number of Lao nationals.
“The government has approved mega-investment projects because we want to create jobs. It is the hope of our government to benefit the Lao people in this way,” Onchanh said.
In recent years, the government has tried to enforce the labour law by requiring foreign-run projects to hire only 10 per cent of their manual workers and 20 per cent of management staff from overseas, but it has proved difficult to implement this ruling. The problem is that the number of adequately skilled personnel in Laos does not meet the needs of the job market.
Many people cross the border to work in Thailand while local industries suffer from a shortage of workers. Businesses in Laos offer only low wages, claiming that local workers lack the necessary skills, even though many of them meet the required standards.
The government estimates that from 2011 to 2015 Laos will have a shortfall of 90,000 workers and will have to continue to hire people from other countries.
“In the past two years, Laos has hired over 20,000 people from other countries. And we expect to hire a further 70,000 people in the next two years to meet our needs,” Onchanh said.
At present, most people are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, with more than 80 per cent of the population working in this sector.
The Laos government is committed to producing skilled workers so they can be employed on projects funded by foreign investors, the country's Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Onchanh Thammavong, said at a press conference ion Vientiane last week during the government's annual meeting with provincial governors. She was commenting on the fact that foreign-operated and -funded projects are not employing a sufficiently large number of Lao nationals. “The government has approved mega-investment projects because we want to create jobs. It is the hope of our government to benefit the Lao people in this way,” Onchanh said. In recent years,...
The Laos government is committed to producing skilled workers so they can be employed on projects funded by foreign investors, the country’s Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Onchanh Thammavong, said at a press conference ion Vientiane last week during the government’s annual meeting with provincial governors.
She was commenting on the fact that foreign-operated and -funded projects are not employing a sufficiently large number of Lao nationals.
“The government has approved mega-investment projects because we want to create jobs. It is the hope of our government to benefit the Lao people in this way,” Onchanh said.
In recent years, the government has tried to enforce the labour law by requiring foreign-run projects to hire only 10 per cent of their manual workers and 20 per cent of management staff from overseas, but it has proved difficult to implement this ruling. The problem is that the number of adequately skilled personnel in Laos does not meet the needs of the job market.
Many people cross the border to work in Thailand while local industries suffer from a shortage of workers. Businesses in Laos offer only low wages, claiming that local workers lack the necessary skills, even though many of them meet the required standards.
The government estimates that from 2011 to 2015 Laos will have a shortfall of 90,000 workers and will have to continue to hire people from other countries.
“In the past two years, Laos has hired over 20,000 people from other countries. And we expect to hire a further 70,000 people in the next two years to meet our needs,” Onchanh said.
At present, most people are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, with more than 80 per cent of the population working in this sector.
