Employment Transitions in an Era of Change in Thailand

The last three decades offer much evidence of greater access to new avenues of employment with globalisation and rapid economic development in Southeast Asia including Thailand. Associated with this pattern is a trend towards employment related migration out of rural areas. In this paper, we look at the implications of globalisation from a rural perspective by examining the direct impact on employment of rural residents who migrate to urban areas, or the indirect impact on rural residents through the experiences of urban migrants. Within this framework, we examine whether men and women have similar migration and associated employment outcomes or whether the impact of these changes varies by changes in the individual’s stage in the life course. We use the CEP-CPC Nang Rong data to examine employment of working age individuals from Nang Rong district in Thailand in 1984, 1994 and 2000 to determine general employment trends during this period in rural and urban Thailand. An associated analysis follows a single cohort of individuals from Nang Rong aged 8-25 years in 1984 to examine changes in their employment patterns in subsequent years, 1994 and 2000. We discuss the factors influencing some individuals to remain employed in Nang Rong, while others migrate, either permanently or temporarily to urban areas. We compare categories of sector of employment, including individuals not employed, those employed in agriculture, and other non-agricultural activities such as blue collar occupations, in the service sector or in government, professional or other jobs to examine these questions.