In Thailand, how to compensate for the departure of hundreds of thousands of Cambodian workers?

Work permits for undocumented Burmese refugees, imports of labor from Sri Lanka, the use of prisoners or soldiers... the Thai government is trying every means possible to remedy the departure of tens of thousands of Cambodian workers who left the country following the clashes on the Cambodian-Thai border.

“To escape the constant harassment, many Cambodians have returned home. And as a result, the private sector is suffering the consequences,” writes Nikkei Asia . “Construction, agriculture, and fishing rely heavily on foreign workers, both legal and illegal, especially those from neighboring Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos,” the newspaper continues in another article.

“According to the Ministry of Labor, 500,606 Cambodians held work permits in July. But the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, estimates that an additional 500,000 Cambodian nationals may be living in Thailand illegally. This would make Cambodia the country's second-largest source of foreign labor, after Burma,” the regional news outlet said .

Kiriya Kulkolkarn, a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at Thammasat University in Bangkok who works on migrant workers, told Khao Sod :

“There are no official figures confirming the number of Cambodian workers who have returned home. The government is unlikely to release this information for security reasons.”

“According to reports from civil society organizations, between 300,000 and 400,000 Cambodian workers, or about 90% of the total, have left , ” Khao Sod continues.

Underscoring the extent to which the Thai economy depends on this foreign workforce and the urgency of the situation, the government has made a number of announcements. A “pilot project” to welcome 10,000 Sri Lankan workers was approved on August 19. “The plan also includes bringing in workers from other countries, such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines .”

In addition to importing migrant workers from Sri Lanka, the government approved on August 26 the authorization for Burmese refugees who fled the civil war and are living in precarious conditions to obtain work permits, Khao Sod reports . This is a way to move quickly because the arrival of candidates from Sri Lanka is likely to take time, Khao Sod points out. Many Burmese are already employed irregularly. With this measure, the country hopes to regularize 42,000 workers. Work permits will be valid for one year.

In addition, the Minister of Justice has proposed to the Ministry of Labor that companies use convicts on parole, which number several hundred thousand people. This provision is to be discussed with the Ministry of Labor, according to Khao Sod . It is also planned, the website continues, to " temporarily employ demobilized or demobilizable soldiers, particularly during the harvest period in November."

But will the Cambodians' departure be sustainable? Nothing is less certain, as the economic situation in Cambodia does not offer enough jobs for those who have returned. Moreover, many Cambodians work in Thailand to pay off debts incurred in their country.

“ According to CEIC, a global macroeconomic data analysis firm, Cambodian household debt reached a record high of $12.3 billion [€10.5 billion] in August 2024,” Nikkei Asia explained in early August.

Yong Makara, who recently returned to Cambodia after working in Thailand as a construction worker for five years, told Nikkei Asia in early August: “I don’t know if I will return [to Thailand] after the conflict ends. If I can’t return to Thailand, I will have to find a job here, but I still don’t know where I can find one.”