More than 5,500 Myanmar refugees living in camps along ?Thailand¡¯s border have found jobs since Bangkok eased employment curbs last year, an approach that offers a regional example, a senior U.N. refugee official said.

The step came in response to a sharp decline in global humanitarian funding, ?in part as U.S. President Donald Trump slashed foreign aid ?and Thailand ?battled growing labor shortages worsened by armed clashes ?with Cambodia.

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