Migrant Workers In Thailand Literature Review

Literature Review

Statistics of Migrant Workers in Thailand

Nowadays, Thailand is a prominent destination for most migrant workers. To work in Thailand legally, migrants must verify their nationalities for completing the registration of immigrant workers in Thailand. Approximately, the highest number of registered migrant labors worked in the field of agriculture with 221,000 workers, the second was construction sector with 220,000 workers, and the last was seafood process with 136,900 workers. Myanmar came in the first place of total immigrant workers at proximately over one million people which were 590,370 males and 487,000 females. The second nationality of migrant workers was Cambodian with over 120,000 people which were 78,900 males and

Dunlop (2011) stated that Myanmar has been ruled by military dictatorship for several decades. The country’s isolation in economic affects majority of citizens to be in a severe state of poverty. Meanwhile, prominent conflicts in Cambodia are no longer presented, a population increases, but there is only limited number of jobs. In recent years, many thousands of Cambodian farmers had to give up on their lands. The countryside left isolated and impoverished. No many choices were there for the younger generation. There is clearly not enough work in the country. World Bank (2006) also supported this idea by stressing that the main factor behind migrant flows is economic. Migrants move to Thailand for searching jobs and higher wages. To illustrate, they gave an example of a 2003 study by ARCM, which found that out of 100 migrants, about 80 percent answered that the main reason of migration was being unemployed at their

Conversely, the results of migrant-related researches are nearly identical, Life in Thailand for migrant worker is tough. Rak Thai (2011) stated that migrants are the most vulnerable and exploited of Thailand’s workforce. Despite a recruitment system that allows workers from neighborhood countries to legally enter Thailand, the system is expensive and time-consuming. As a result, many of them continue to enter Thailand through illegal means, sometimes facilitated by brokers. Migrant workers are often trapped by debts because their wages are deducted to pay their brokers, who provide them jobs. In some serious cases, migrant workers are never paid and subject to a modern form of slavery. Furthermore, Thai law only provides registered migrants with rights to basic social service and labor law, but the law does not apply to non-registered migrants. Consequently, the latter fails to access social services. (World Bank, 2006) Although there are several sources of information provided concerning migrant workers in Thailand, most of them are the researches which conducted in rural areas, especially in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). Due to the lack of migrant workers-related research in the metropolitan area, this research paper aims to study factors of migration, working conditions of migrant workers, and what can be done to improve migrants’ quality of life, and is conducted in Bangkok, the capital city of