The Labour Ministry has admitted that laws relating to what jobs should be reserved for Thais are well out of date.
The ministry is therefore in the process of reviewing the 39 occupations to see which ones should be possible for foreigners to do in the future.
The list included hat and doll making, various jobs in construction like bricklaying and carpentry – even rolling cigarettes.
Various jobs associated with driving, the law and other manufacturing was also off limits.
In fact the only things that non-specialists could engage in were manual labour and housework.
Ministry spokesman Woranon Peetiwan said that a consultative process would decide what jobs needed to be opened up to foreigners.
He noted that many on the forbidden list Thais did not want to do anyway.
Changing the list would also encourage investment. Investors would be attracted by the possibilities of an easily available and willing labour source.
He cited the construction sector as an area that is particularly out of date. He said that foreigners are only allowed to be labourers but it is not sensible that, for example, they are not allowed to be bricklayers.
He noted that was a dying art in Thailand.
Woranon also announced that 100 job centres are set to be opened nationwide for fifteen days from July 24 to August 7th.
The ministry wants illegal workers to register and be registered by employers. An amnesty has already been announced in Thailand to enable this to happen easily.
The job centres will be places where employers can register their workers and suitable places with lots of parking are being organized by provincial governors.
Eleven centres are being set up in Bangkok alone to cope with the estimated 300,000 foreign workers in the capital.
Nationwide that figure is thought to be another 1.5 million.
Woranon said that the centres in Bangkok would be able to cope with processing 2000 each per day during the 15 days of operation.
(Source:Thairath)