Hundreds of Burmese nationals, looking for jobs in Thailand, have registered with a job sponsoring company in the border town of Myawaddy because jobs are hard to come by.

Even though we have registered with a job sponsoring company in Myawaddy and it is owned by a Thai national, we are yet to find jobs. It is a problem,” said Ko Min a Burmese migrant.

"Getting a job was supposed to take three weeks but now three months have passed. The company owner has provided only rice and a place to stay. We have to live in a warehouse. Getting a job is uncertain," he added.

“Before we get jobs, people have to be provided rice twice a day and given a place to stay. Once we get jobs, the company will deduct the expenditure incurred on us from our salary in installments,” Ko Min added.

"Normally, the company takes 12,000 Baht. It will cut 500 to 1000 Baht monthly from our salary," he said.

The company is owned by a Thai and he has links with brokers. If a job seeker wants to contact the company for a job, he has to pay at least 500 Baht to the broker.

If Thai employers want labourers, they contact the company and the broker calls a job seeker, who pays more than others, another migrant Ko Tun Aung said.

"It is tricky. I gave 500 Baht because I know the broker. Some people have to pay 2 to 3 lakh Kyat. I came from Maesod. The company told me that it would take only one or two weeks but now it's almost three months," he said

There are over 600 workers in the warehouse waiting for jobs. Some are not in good health, he added.

"The warehouse has both men and women staying. There are about 300 women. The base of the warehouse is made of concrete where they sleep on plastic sheets. There are 300 men in the men’s section and there is a space crunch," he added.

Ko Tun Aung said that some workers quit a factory in Maesod and registered with the job sponsoring company.

"Brokers had promised that job-seekers would get jobs in one or two weeks. So, some workers quit their jobs in a garment factory in Maesod and registered with the company. Now they are in a spot," he said.

Most workers are from Pegu, Mague, Yangon, and Rakhine state in Burma. They registered with the company for jobs in Thailand.

Even though the Thai government has a policy of arresting migrant workers and sending them back to their country, workers keep coming to Thailand daily in various ways, labour advocates said.