The Structure of Thai Labour Problems and Worker’s Life Trajectories

Abstract

This research aims to investigate 1) the Thai labour market both formal and informal labour market 2) life trajectories of the workers and rural –urban labour employment situation. The research methodology compose of documentary research, indept-interview and focus group discussion with the workers in Chiang Mai and Lamphun provinces. The research results show that the economic development which based on neo-liberalism of free trade, regulation of public organizations and privatization, has led to enormous changes of labour employment in the forms of short term employment, subcontracting and so forth. This trend of labour employment has occurred in the transition of industrial capitalist accumulation in Fordist regime. In early 1970s, the problems of high potential productivity of Fordism came to crisis caused by several factors such as the strict rule of labour process and production as well as labour control. Furthermore, the large-scale production needs a large number of investment. As a result, the factories have adopted a new strategies of flexible production and labour employment. This research reveals that the spatial dimensions of socio-economic development in urban-rural areas reflects life trajectories of labourers in agricultural sector to industrial sector and post industrial sector to other forms of career path in rural economic development.