Managing International Labor Migration in ASEAN: A Case of Thailand by Srawooth Paitoonpong Yongyuth Chalamwong Thailand Development Research Institute ISBN 978‐974‐7533‐93‐4 Managing International Labor Migration in ASEAN: A Case of Thailand by Srawooth Paitoonpong Yongyuth Chalamwong Funded by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Printed in February 2012 (Research finished in September 2011) Printed by Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) 565 Ramkhamhaeng Soi 39, Wangthonglang, Bangkok 10310 Tel: 662 718 5460; Fax: 662 718 5461‐2 Website: http://www.tdri.or.th Email: [email protected] Printed at Vitoon Karnpok Printing Company Limited 13 Prachasongkroh, Dindaeng, Bangkok 10400 Tel: 662 275 4000 Email: [email protected] Dr. Srawooth is Senior Research Fellow, Human Resource and Social Development Program, Thailand Development Research Institute. Dr. Yongyuth is Research Director, Labor Development, Thailand Development Research Institute. ii Managing International Labor Migration in ASEAN: A Case of Thailand Abstract Managing International Labor Migration in ASEAN: A Case of Thailand The study on “Managing International Labor Migration in ASEAN: A Case of Thailand,” aimed to study policies and institution arrangement for managing international migration as part of regional cooperation initiatives and bilateral agreements. The study emphasized on the finding out why the current management of sending workers and protecting workers has not been effective. The data used for the analysis came from two main majority sources: 1) the quantitative data, including primary data on possible solutions, strategies, the secondary sources from Socio‐Economic Survey (SES) and information where necessary to explain the socio‐economic impact of migrant worker families; and 2) the qualitative study where collected from interview of key informants, focus group discussion with families of migrant workers, governments, brokers, and etc. As data allow, cost benefit analysis for out migration as well as in migration from government intervention programs was applied. The theory of push and pull factors were used for describing reasons forced migrant workers to work overseas. As of the study, there was the evidence that pointed out that poverty and indebtedness were push factor for both emigration and immigration while higher income in the destination countries was the pull factor. The study further found that both of emigration and immigration were beneficial in various aspects including increase the gross domestic product (GDP) in both country of origin and destination country. Remittance was an important source of the country development budget, increase the level of national saving, and improve income distribution. However, it was due to the fact that most of migrant workers were from low educational background, thus most of them become victims of exploitation and human trafficking from the agencies and employers in particular undocumented workers. Even though, Thai government has many of laws and regulations regarding prevention and protection migrant workers, such as labor law and labor protection act; and the memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in regional and bilateral level, these have not been effective due to the weakness in law enforcement of the authorities. Key words: international migration, emigration, immigration, undocumented workers, migrant worker Srawooth Paitoonpong (Immigration) and Yongyuth Chalamwong (Emigration) iii Acknowledgements The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) received a grant from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) to conduct this research paper which entitled “Managing International Labor Migration in ASEAN: A Case of Thailand.” The paper provides quantitative fact finding on international labor migration and evaluates policies and institution arrangements for managing international migration, as well as suggesting recommendations for way to improve the situation. The researchers would like to express the gratitude to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), especially Dr. Josef T. Yap and Dr. Aniceto C. Orbeta, JR. who shared with us insightful comments and have provided assistance to the team. We would like to express our thank to the major contributors: experts from both private and public sectors, in particular the Ministry of Labour, NGOs, experts from academic institutes who have kindly sharing with us valuable suggestions. While recognizing the contributors of those mentioned above, the authors take full responsibility for opinion expressed in this paper. Thailand Development Research Institute September 2011 iv Managing International Labor Migration in ASEAN: A Case of Thailand Table of Contents Page Abstract ......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................. vii List of Figures ................................................................................................................. x Abbreviations ............................................................................................................. xiii Managing International Labor Migration in ASEAN: A Case of THAILAND (Immigration) ................................................... 1 by Srawooth Paitoonpong I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 2 II. OVERVIEW OF LABOR IMMIGRATION IN THAILAND ........................................ 3 A. Legal migrant workers: Trend and composition ............................................ 4 B. Illegal migrant workers: Trend and composition ............................................ 9 III. IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION ........................................................................... 15 A. Impact of immigration on the economy and labor market ........................... 15 B. Immigration and social problems .................................................................. 20 C. Remittances .................................................................................................. 27 IV. GOVERNMENT POLICIES ............................................................................... 28 A. Laws and regulations..................................................................................... 28 B. Process of immigration from CLM................................................................. 33 C. International labor migration policy formulation ......................................... 35 V. MANAGEMENT OF LABOR IMMIGRATION .................................................... 41 A. Government agencies involved ..................................................................... 41 B. Regulating illegal migrant workers ................................................................ 42 C. Problems and obstacles in implementation .................................................. 47 VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................... 51 References ................................................................................................................... 53 Srawooth Paitoonpong (Immigration) and Yongyuth Chalamwong (Emigration) v page Managing International Labor Migration in ASEAN: A Case of THAILAND (Emigration) ............................................ 57 by Yongyuth Chalamwong 1. LABOR EMIGRATION IN THAILAND ............................................................... 58 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 58 1.2 Overview of Emigration in Thailand ........................................................... 59 1.3 Concepts and Theories of Factors Influencing Migration ........................... 68 1.4 Concepts and Theories of International Migration .................................... 69 1.5 International Migration Impacts................................................................. 71 1.6 Government Policies and Its Services ......................................................... 73 1.7 Section summary ........................................................................................ 85 2. IMPACT OF EMIGRATION ON THE ECONOMY AND LABOR MARKET .............. 85 2.1 Descriptive Analysis on Household Socio‐Economic Survey....................... 86 2.2 Quantitative Analysis of Household Socio‐economic Survey ................... 124 3. RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................. 133 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 135 Appendix A Table of Analysis Household Socio‐Economic Survey ......................... 141 Appendix B The T‐test Result on Two Household Groups’ Income and Expenditure ..................................................................... 163 Appendix C Result of Econometric Analysis ........................................................... 167 Appendix D Source of Income, Assets and Liabilities of Household Comparing between Two Household Groups and the Significance of Difference herein Tested by T‐test ....................................................................... 173 Appendix E Minutes of the