3m at risk from robotics rise
The Bank of Thailand forecasts 3 million workers will suffer on account of automation and robotics use over the next decade.
Nuntanid Thongsri, an economist for the central bank’s economic and policy department, said those in recursive jobs will be the first group affected, including manufacturing workers and cashiers, as they will replaced by robotics systems.
“The key change for Thai entrepreneurs is the hike of the daily minimum wage to over 300 baht nationwide and the cost of automation and robotics, which declines every year. Many firms can invest in these technologies, which are more stable and precise than humans,” she said.
“The central bank forecasts both automation and robotics systems will play a key role in the industrial sector over the next 10-20 years.”
Miss Nuntanid said new workers and fresh graduates have already been affected to some extent as they have had longer job searches than before.
Fresh graduates may have skills mismatches based on, for example, demand for entrepreneurship and language skills.
Social science graduates can be affected by technological disruption because their skills often do not match firms’ expectations, she said.
Miss Nuntanid said there have not been any developments in Thailand’s labour market for the past 15 years because the country’s education system does not have a plan to produce new workers supporting overall industry demand.
“For instance, positions in high demand are engineers, technicians and computer programmers, but those numbers of employees have only grown 2%, while twothirds of manufacturing workers cannot work with new technology,” she said.
According to Bank of Thailand research, there are 6 million workers in the industrial sector.
But there are only three sectors that have utilised automation and robotics system at their manufacturing facilities over the past 10-15 years: automotive, rubber and plastics and electronics.
Those sectors also pay higher wages than the overall industry average.
Miss Nuntanid cited a figure from the International Federation of Robotics that Thailand is now ranked 10th when it comes to applying this technology to the local manufacturing sector.
But the figures show the country only has 45 robotics systems in the industrial sector per 10,000 workers, compared with 631 in South Korea, 488 in Singapore, 303 in Japan and 177 in Taiwan.
The central bank said the government and policymakers have to come up with a solution as Thai firms are going to be lacking in needed skills to meet changing trends.
Moreover, the firms have to conduct training and re-training courses to upskill their employees as a labour shortage is an issue of concern in the industrial sector.