Laos expects rapid growth, urbanization over next two decades

Jan 14, 2011, 8:28 GMT

Vientiane, Laos - The Lao government expects the country's population to increase from 6 million today to 6.9 million people by 2015, with the number of workers employed in agriculture shrinking to 70 per cent, state-run media reported Friday.

A report by the country's communist government said the number of workers in the industrial sector was expected to increase from 4.8 per cent in 2005 to about 7 per cent in 2015.

Laos remains one of Asia's least-developed countries. It is pinning its development hopes on a series of dams to provide electric power to its energy-hungry neighbours, particularly Thailand, and has said it expects annual economic growth of 8 per cent over the next five years.

Earlier this week Laos opened its first stock exchange, with only two listings, which the government says is part of its plan to transform the country into a 'basic modern and industrialized nation' by 2020.

The Vientiane Times Friday quoted a senior Lao economist, Liber Libouapao of the National Economic Research Institute, as saying the growth in the nation's workforce will be good for the economy in the next decade, but the government needed to pay more attention to developing a skilled labour force.

The government report said 78.5 per cent of the workforce in 2005 was employed in agriculture.

As in other developing countries, the government expects the pace of migration from rural to urban areas to accelerate over the next two decades.

'I think that the overall labour market will automatically find a balance. If the workforce in Laos does not meet demand the country may have to import from other countries,' Liber said.

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