Yangon—A total of 73 factories in Hlaingtharyar Township in Yangon, have closed temporarily and permanently and laid off employees, according to the Labour Affairs Department on 5 April. 

U Thein Min Tun, head of Labour Affairs Department said: “There are 24 factories which closed their operations and 49 factories which made layoffs. The factories have to pay compensation to their workers. But some workers want jobs rather than compensation. The workers call on the officials to get the jobs when the situation returns to normalcy.”  

Due to the closures of factories and layoffs, around 20,000 workers will be out of jobs in Hlaingtharyar Township alone. 

Most of the affected factories are garment factories. 

Most of the factories closed citing the shortage of raw materials and the lack of orders placed. 

Yangon (Myanmar) Fashion garment factory in Shwelinban Industrial Zone in Hlaingtharyar Township with a workforce of 904 will lay-off 686 workers on 5 May, due to the cancellation of orders.

The local garment industry has to rely on 90 per cent of raw materials from China. Most of the local garment industries find it difficult to survive due to the shortage of raw materials and low orders. 

Most of garment factory workers are migrant workers.