CNI News

27 July 2024

Garment and other industries in Myanmar are losing skilled workers, business people and those helping in the labor affairs told CNI News. 

Many skilled workers left the country to work in foreign countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and China through legal or illegal channels because they got low wages and they demanded to raise their wages, but in vain.

So, entrepreneurs were facing a skilled labor shortage, Ma Myo Myo Aye, who was helping in the labor affairs, told CNI News.

While seeing the garment industry

" Employment is not rare. But skilled laborers don't do low-wage jobs. They feel their skills and wages do not match. So, they resigned from their jobs. Those who remained in the workplaces are unskilled laborers. Entrepreneurs can't keep skilled laborers for long because they can't raise wages. Skilled laborers demanded employers to raise wages. But because their demands were met, most of them go abroad." he said.

Although ordinary workers could be trained within a short time to become skilled workers for some industries, it was not easy to do so for other industries, said businessmen.

Entrepreneurs were different from one another in tackling skilled workers. Some entrepreneurs can manage so as not to make skilled workers resign, U Ne Lin, a restaurant entrepreneur, told CNI News.

While seeing a KFC fried chicken shop

" If a skilled worker leaves my restaurant, I train another worker. We don't have to train them for long for some things. We need to train workers for four or six months for technological things. Technological industries would suffer more if their skilled workers left. Because many skilled workers have gone abroad, there has been a sharp decrease in the number of skilled workers within the country." he said.

Because many people from many parts of the country moved to Yangon as IDPs, more new workers have arrived in the factories and workshops. So, although labor shortages do not occur, most of the migrants are reportedly not skilled workers.