The Impact of Global Technological Change on Medium and Lower Skilled Textile and Garment Workers in Thailand

This paper examines the effect of technological change on job security, job satisfaction,,work relations s and the overall socioeconomic situation of medium and lower skilled workers in Thailand. It also investigates the influence of job security, job satisfaction and work relations on the overall situation of workers. Results show that the work pride,. supervision quality. internal communication. fair pay. workers involvement in the change process, personal control and the overall situation are positively influenced by the technological change. The negative effects are increased skill demands. workloads, proximity in work assignments, and strikes. Unskilled textile workers are more involved in downsizing from the change than garment workers are. The more skill demands and more frustration leads to a less positive overall impact on workers. The more involvement of workers in the change process and more personal control over their work result in more positive overall impact. Job satisfaction factors are not significantly related to the overall impact. However, job security, job satisfaction and work relations together are significantly related to the overall socioeconomic impact of technological change on Thai workers