The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare is focusing on improving Lao labour management so that more people can find employment and contribute to the country's socio-economic development.
At a national training workshop on employment services at the Settha Palace Hotel in Vientiane on Monday, Deputy Minister Laoly Faiphengyoua said the ministry plans to recruit about 83,000 domestic employees and will send a further 25,000 workers to work in other countries this year.
He said that many Lao workers are migrating to neighbouring countries, especially Thailand , to seek employment.
To resolve this, the ministry will pay more attention to the development of the Lao workforce and aims to provide even more people with jobs, said Mr Laoly.
Most of those who look for work in neighbouring countries illegally migrate because they have friends or relatives there, or the promise of free work or a higher income.
He called on the sectors concerned to implement policies and provide information on labour management, protection and migration that will be of benefit to both employers and those in the workforce.
A Memorandum of Understanding on labour employment cooperation between Laos and Thailand was signed in October, 2002, marking a new level of cooperation between the two countries regarding the establishment of a legal workforce.
Mr Laoly said that illegal labour is a major problem worldwide. The number of people who moved from their hometowns increased from 75 million people in 1965 to 191 million people in 2005, according to information from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Japan .
A few years ago, ILO/Japan set up a project in Laos officially named “The Management of Cross-Border Movement of Migrant Workers Project”, said the Chief Technical Adviser and Overall Coordinator, Mr Kiyotaka Higuchi, also speaking at the workshop.
He said that migrant workers often suffered from a large gap between their home country and their host country in terms of protection.
“We are trying to improve protection for workers and promote domestic employment opportunities for potential migrant workers in their own countries. We aim to boost skills development so that they can obtain decent work in their own country and abroad, and use the money they earn for economic development at home,” Mr Higuchi said.
He said that migration was not a modern issue and had been commonly practised for centuries. Various people and organisations had tried to solve the problems that accompanied migration.
“This project tries to encourage the provision of work opportunities for migrant workers. I hope that all participants and everyone concerned will broaden their knowledge and experience to give migrants a better working life,” he added.
