A major skills crisis has gripped the nation of Thailand. Faced with an aging population and a low birth rate, the number of young workers available to participate in the workforce have dwindled.

Almost half of the country’s domestic workforce has an average age of 40 years old, according to Tanit Sorat, Vice Chairman of Thailand’s National Labor Development Advisory Council which is a part of the country’s Labor Ministry.

As compared to other countries such as Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia, Thai population’s average age is way higher. To add to the skills shortage in the nation, about 45 percent of the employees are unskilled workers. Even though there are about 400,000 positions available, there are only a few candidates left to fill those, Sorat added.

The solution to this skills shortage lies at the heart of the education system in Thailand. The need of the hour is to incorporate courses in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in order to upskill an entire generation who can then fill in those open positions which demand a technological skillset.

Currently only about 10,000 graduates a year are available to fulfill the skilled roles.