Skills needs in emerging green jobs in the building and tourism industries in Thailand

This study identifies skills needs and gaps in the construction and tourism industries in Thailand, with a view to transforming jobs in these industries into green jobs. Current skills and training systems were reviewed and analysed to see whether the skills and competency standards has green jobs components. The study proposes skills for green jobs responses as well as provides recommendations on integrating green skills and green job components into Thailand’s skills and competency standards for selected priority occupations in construction and tourism.

The report presents a rationale for the emergence of green occupations in Thailand as a response to climate change, and as a means of moving towards a low carbon economy. A mechanism for achieving this goal is to train and retrain workers with a set of well-defined, green-knowledge skills sets. These skills and knowledge sets can be developed through the promotion, advancement, and implementation of green competencies.

The research revealed the limitations of skills standards in the priority occupations for Thailand. It found that “green skill” components were not explicitly stated in the skills standards, and proposed solutions to these shortcomings through a written set of job-specific “green competencies” that meet the needs of the priority occupations in construction and tourism. The study also proposed the implementation of a national green skills agreement as part of Thailand’s National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The aim of integrating the skills agreement into the NQF is to implement educational policies designed to assist Thailand in its transition to a low-carbon and sustainable economy.