The Labor Ministry will send 800 workers to Israel this month, despite the ongoing conflict in the region, as many Thais continue to show strong interest in working there, Somchai Morakotsriwan, a director at the ministry, said Monday. Somchai Morakotsriwan assured that workers would only be assigned to secure areas, specifying that employment agencies are strictly prohibited from sending Thai workers to conflict zones in northern Israel.
If the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah worsens, Somchai said the government will put in place a plan to safely evacuate workers. He said representatives of the Labor Ministry had already contacted officials at the Israeli embassy in Bangkok to discuss the issue.
Asked what risk the move could pose to workers, Somchai said suspending cooperation would not guarantee their safety. Indeed, those who really want to work in Israel will find a way to get there on their own, making it more difficult for the government to track and protect them.
High demand for jobs in Israel is reflected in the number of participants in a recent recruitment drive at Rajabhat University in Chiang Rai, where thousands of potential workers took a skills test.
Marius Savescu, a representative of an Israeli recruitment agency, announced that Israeli companies were looking to fill around 2,000 positions, many of them for carpenters, blacksmiths, masons and tilers. The agency says most companies are looking for men between the ages of 25 and 45. According to Savescu, between 3,000 and 4,000 additional workers will need to be recruited into Israel's construction sector by the end of the year. Demand is expected to reach around 10,000 people next year, he added. Last year, 2,174 Chiang Rai residents left for various jobs in Israel.
On the Hezbollah rocket attack in the northern Israeli town of Metula, which killed four Thai workers and injured another, Somchai said the Labor Ministry was in discussions with authorities Israeli authorities regarding the repatriation of bodies and compensation under Israeli labor law. The Ministry of Labor will also cooperate with the Overseas Employment Fund unit to quickly provide financial assistance to the victims' families. They should receive 40,000 baht for funeral expenses as well as an additional sum of 40,000 baht for their dependents.
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