300,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand jobless due to COVID-19 pandemic

YANGON — More than 300,000 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand are facing unemployment due to COVID-19 pandemic, said Htoo Chit, Executive Director of the Foundation for Education and Development based in Thailand during a webinar held at Yangon Journalism School about the challenges faced by migrant workers in Thailand in the time of COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

He said he knew from the survey collected by Migrants Working Group in Thailand.

The survey said more than 500,000 migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia in Thailand are unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The number of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand is about two-third of the total number of migrant workers in the country so we can say at least 300,000 Myanmar migrant workers are jobless generally,” he said.

The migrant workers are mainly working in factories, fishing, and tourism industries.

Some of them are lay-off and some of them have been reduced their working hours to reduce their salaries. Some are waiting for their work to be reopened.

“Migrant workers working unofficially are included in lay-off mostly and it will make them hurt more,” he said.

Myanmar migrant workers are exploited by unscrupulous employers, and faced unfair treatment by authorities and violations of human rights and didn’t receive compensation. More than 30,000 Myanmar migrant workers are listed to return home, he added.

The number of Myanmar migrant workers returned to Myanmar from Thailand is roughly between 70,000 and 100,000 during March, he said.