The order was handed down at during an inspection of the Phuket Institute for Skill Development located in Bang Jo, Srisoonthorn, in central Phuket.
At the centre, Gen Adul explained his 13-point ‘Super Worker’ policy to the heads of many government agencies of Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi and Ranong.
He ordered the provincial offices of the Department of Labour to play the central role in developing action plans to achieve the targets laid out in the policy, which aims to drive better skills and knowledge training for people to join the workforce as superior-skilled workers.
Gen Adul highlighted that the Phuket Institute for Skill Development itself played a key role, as it provided training programs to create skilled workers for the Andaman tourism industry.
This year, 6,408 people have been enrolled in courses at the centre, with 1,065 people graduating in skills courses and a further 565 graduating in theory courses.
The graduates this year have been hired by 204 businesses, with those businesses having a combined workforce of 33,425 employees, Gen Adul pointed out.
The training provided by the centre targets 10 industries, and includes skills courses in bartending, Thai and international cuisine, waiter skills, nutrition management on boats, techniques for serving wine, holistic health, Western spa and Thai massage for health, e-commerce development, online stores and even yacht painting and foreign languages, among others, Gen Adul noted.
The Labour Minister also called for an update on the “visa service centre” and the issuing of work permits at the Phuket Provincial Employment Office to make sure the office, staff, equipment and operation systems were adequate.
Gen Adul related his report, nothing that in Phuket 321,440 people are of employment age, with 317,022 employed and 4,418 unemployed – giving a government-calculated unemployment rate of 1.37%.
Of note, according to government statistics, there are 84,478 foreign workers in Phuket, working at 10,925 establishments, Gen Adul added.
There are 19,257 skilled foreign workers registered at Phuket Employment Office, of which 17,661 are considered “temporary workers”, with 247 people issued work permits under the ‘Single Window for Work Permit’ government policy to attract skilled foreign workers**.
Of those who applied in Phuket for work permits under the ‘Single Window’ policy, the most popular industry categories were sales administration, hotel work, e-commerce, aquariums and software development, Gen Adul noted..
** For the Board of Investment explanation of the ‘Single Window for Work Permit’ government policy, click here.