Uncertainty and Distress in Migrant Workers Behind Thailand Lockdown
A substantial Thai and worldwide economic has resulted in the closure of certain businesses and factories and, in turn, migrant workers have become the first group of people who have been laid off. As the country has entered the worst economic recession in its history, daily wage migrant workers cry out of hunger during these tough times.
After the Emergency Decree to control the outbreak of Covid 19 in March was announced and enforced, national borders and high risking venues have to be closed that left millions of desperate migrant workers stranded in the country. They have to try to live without jobs and have nowhere to go.
In addition, they are unable to overcome local language barriers and one of the most common and most serious hurdles is the lack of technical and computer skills resulting in the inability to access to any useful information and guidance in a time of coronavirus crisis. Likewise, migrant workers who are living in the areas adjacent to the Burma, Laos and Cambodia border have shared the same plight in the unprecedented situation.
Their lives are hanging onto the uncertainty, and on top of that, they have hardly the right to access to any government social welfare schemes.
Since hotels, travel and tourism related businesses are to remain closed, hundred thousands of migrant workers in the country are unemployed and many are unable to adapt themselves to the “new normal”.
