Thailand is one of Southeast Asia’s leading manufacturing hubs, especially for the production of automobiles, and robotics and automation have always been at the heart of boosting industrial productivity. The diffusion of industrial robots perhaps best epitomizes technological penetration and the possibility of job automation in the workplace. Robots have been used for decades, but their distribution has recently accelerated thanks to advanced robotics technologies and the development of high-tech or intelligent robots. They now spread beyond the manufacturing sector and manual tasks. For instance, supermarkets have started to employ robots as shop assistants, and Amazon and other retailers are piloting cashier-less stores. This issue examines the potential and the issues of robotic automation development in Thailand.
Data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) shows that orders of industrial robots increased threefold globally between 2003 and 2015, and the trend is projected to accelerate further. The penetration of industrial robots is not limited to advanced economies. The data also shows that many emerging countries follow international automation trends, including Thailand.
Along with the diffusion of new technologies, the world economy has become increasingly integrated through international trade. As a share of GDP, international trade has risen globally in developed and emerging countries in recent decades. Many emerging economies, including Thailand, are now significant players in the world market, both exporters and importers. In this regard, Thailand has made remarkable progress in expanding access to education over the past decades, with the potential to significantly help drive forward Thailand 4.0,” a government strategy aiming to move towards a more skilled and technology-oriented economy to respond to the country’s shrinking labor force by increasing the populations’ productivity.
There has been a sustained push by the government to attract increasing numbers of students into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and STI (Science, Technology, and Innovation) fields. The need to attract more tertiary students to these fields has been highlighted at all levels of national development plans, including the 20-year National Strategy, the 12th National Economic and Social Development Plan, and other national reform plans. These fields are also considered to be necessary for driving the country forward according to current government policies, such as Thailand 4.0.
While the most significant shortages were observed in the education sector, the most significant surpluses were in the agricultural industry. In Thailand, the shortage observed at the occupational level translates into shortages of cognitive skills, such as mathematical reasoning, writing, and reading comprehension, but also certain social skills, like service-oriented and technical skills (e.g., programming and technology design). In addition to substantial shortages and surpluses, the skills for jobs data also show that the Thai labor market has a significant share of workers who are mismatched in terms of qualification level and field.
Over-qualification is most common in Thailand among sales and service workers at 59 percent and plant and machine operators and assemblers at 50 percent. The industries with the most significant shares of overqualified workers are the wholesale and retailer industry at 48 percent and the accommodation and food services industry at 48 percent. By contrast, under-qualification is most common among managers at 35.5 percent and clerical support workers at 35 percent. Mismatch by qualification level is uncommon in some occupations and industries. In addition, the field-of-study mismatch is prevalent among those who specialized in arts and humanities at 83 percent or in ICT at 87 percent.
TAKE-HOME MESSAGE
To successfully navigate through industry 4.0 and digital transformation, Thailand needs to address the skill systems’ key challenges and opportunities for human capital development. It is difficult but essential to ensure adult learning is aligned with labor market needs in a rapidly changing world. However, there is currently no policy in Thailand to assist workers in sectors undergoing structural change.
Article by: Asst. Prof. Suwan Juntiwasarakij, Ph.D. & MEGA Tech