Perpetuating Migration Cycle of Low-skilled Workers from Myanmar to Thailand : Generations to Generations

Thailand’s export-driven policy has called for a large number of low-skilled workers to fulfill labor demand in its manufacturing sector. However, with declining birth rate and expanded education, Thai low-skilled workforce has been steadily shrinking. In 2015, Myanmar was the largest source of low-skilled immigrant workers in Thailand with more than 1.4 million individuals, 62.43 percent share of total low-skilled foreign workers. Nevertheless, the large share of Myanmar immigrant workers in Thailand is not unheard of; workers from Myanmar, in fact, has surged into the country even before they were regulated in 1992. This study aims to investigate this decades-long continual flow of immigrant worker from Myanmar into Thailand. In-depth interviews with immigrant workers and key informants reveal that immigrant workers’ social ties as well as changing socioeconomic conditions in their origin areas play crucial role influencing perpetuation of migration cycle from Myanmar to Thailand