AEC promises garment growth but labour still an issue
AEC promises garment growth but labour still an issue
The local garment industry will continue to grow this year with the coming of the Asean Economic Community (AEC), but supplying enough labour remains a challenge for the sector.
While many in the sector note that investors are planning to open new garment factories they remained concerned about supplying enough Lao tailors to meet production.
Recent times have seen a flow of foreign labour to Laos for construction but this is not the case for the garment sector with wages lower than neighbouring countries.
The Lao garment industry still needs more than an additional 10,000 tailors each year to supply factories.
According to the Lao Garment Industry Association presently there are about 30,000 labourers working in local factories, which are mainly in Vientiane and Savannakhet.
However, if the government didn't do more work to improve labour shortages in the country, it may adversely affect investment decisions regarding new factories, the association stressed.
According to the government's 8th Socio-economic Development Plan for 2016-2020, the Lao labour force was expected to increase from 3.8 million in 2015 to 4.41 million by 2020 to support the growth of the economy
Vice President of the Lao Garment Industry Association, Dr Xaybandith Rasphone expected that an increased labour force would be a good thing for the economy, especially for the garment industry which is currently confronted with a labour shortage.
The country has recently attracted investors to the garment industry as they receive special rights and tax exemptions given to developing countries like Laos.
However, concerned officials note that young workers in provincial areas still can't access information on vacant positions in factories while higher wages in Thailand keep attracting young labourers to work abroad.
