Myanmar migrants and Thai workers gather fresh shrimp at a seafood market in the coastal province of Samut Sakhon. (Photo: AFP)
Migrant workers from Myanmar may not return to Thailand in the wake of a severe downturn in one of Southeast Asia’s strongest economies.
Migrant laborers, especially from neighboring Myanmar, have helped prop up Thailand’s economy, with foreign workers performing a wide range of low-skilled and low-paid jobs from factory work to fishing.
Yet the economic slump brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a blow to Thailand’s labor market, which has forced numerous Myanmar laborers to return home earlier this year as a countrywide lockdown was put in place in Thailand.
Many of these laborers may not return to try and find work in the foreseeable future.
