More than 5,500 Myanmar refugees in Thai camps have found jobs since Bangkok eased employment restrictions, offering a regional model amid declining humanitarian funding.

More than 5,500 Myanmar refugees living in camps along Thailand's border have found jobs since Bangkok eased employment curbs last year, according to a senior U.N. refugee official.

Thailand now allows about 80,000 refugees from Myanmar to work legally, a policy change for a population that has lived for decades dependent on humanitarian aid in nine shelters along the shared border.

The step was prompted by a sharp decline in global humanitarian funding—partly due to U.S. President Donald Trump slashing foreign aid—and Thailand's growing labor shortages worsened by armed clashes with Cambodia.