Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has urged working-age citizens to remain in Myanmar, claiming the country offers “a safer and more secure living environment” than moving abroad.
In his International Workers’ Day message on Thursday, he lamented labor shortages caused by migration but failed to address the reasons behind the exodus.
Since his 2021 military coup, Myanmar’s economy has spiraled into meltdown amid mass withdrawal of foreign investment, Western sanctions, and civil war. These factors have triggered a collapse in the domestic job market, soaring inflation, and widespread business closures due to rising production costs and chronic electricity shortages.
Many young citizens have been forced to seek work abroad, while those who remain face the grim prospect of forced military conscription. This has driven many to flee to countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and even Russia, despite its ongoing war with Ukraine.
The regime activated the Conscription Law in February 2024 and has so far trained 11 batches of around 5,000 conscripts each.
Over 7 million Myanmar citizens have crossed into Thailand since the coup, according to Thailand’s Parliamentary Committee on National Security.
Despite this bleak reality, Min Aung Hlaing claimed in a March cabinet meeting that “there are existing opportunities for people to prosper inside Myanmar.”
In his Workers’ Day message, Min Aung Hlaing also made sure to remind overseas workers to remit their foreign currency earnings back home. Under remittance rules introduced in September 2023, migrant workers must send at least 25% of their salaries through Myanmar’s banking system. The regime has threatened not to renew the work permits for those who fail to comply.
Traditionally, migrants have relied on hundi, an informal cross-border credit system, which offers market rates of around 4,400 kyats per US dollar. However, the new rules convert earnings at the official rate of approximately 3,600 kyats per dollar, significantly reducing their value for families.
In his Thursday message, Min Aung Hlaing stressed the importance of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Myanmar’s economy, urging their promotion to boost employment, enhance domestic production, reduce imports, and enable export of surplus goods. However, MSMEs are reportedly collapsing at a high rate amid soaring production costs due to chronic power outages and rising raw material prices since the coup.
The junta chief also announced compensation worth 21.703 billion kyats for insured workers affected by the March 28 earthquake. The regime had earlier promised 1 million kyats to the families of each victim killed in the disaster. However, residents in quake-hit Mandalay and Sagaing report they have yet to receive any compensation.
The regime has been accused of mismanaging the 440-billion-kyat disaster response fund established by the National League for Democracy government it ousted in 2021.
Min Aung Hlaing reportedly redirected 370 billion kyats from the fund to state and regional chief ministers for agricultural and development projects. Of the remaining 70 billion kyats, 30 billion was lent to MSMEs to grow oil crops to reduce foreign currency expenditure on cooking oil imports. However, former officials claim these efforts have yielded no tangible results, as junta-controlled media have not reported any achievements.
The Myanmar Labor Alliance marked International Workers’ Day with a statement accusing the regime of suppressing labor rights, including freedom of expression, assembly, and association. It also condemned the arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, and killing of civil servants, private sector employees, trade union leaders, and labor rights activists who oppose the regime.
