From: tun@quark.SFSU.EDU (Coban Tun)
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Subject: Thailand: Economic boom attracts illegal foreign workers
Date: 25 Jan 93 16:30:22 GMT
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01/23 2315  THAILAND - ECONOMIC BOOM ATTRACTS ILLEGAL FOREIGN WORKERS
 
(JAN. 22) PAC RIM INTELLIGENCE REPORT - Thailand's phenomenal economic growth
over the years has placed severe strains on the local workforce and triggered
a massive influx of immigrants from neighboufing countnes.
   There are an estimated 300-400,000 illegal migrants in the country.
   Sources at the Interior Ministry and the National Security Council told The
Nation the figures do not include the almost 400,000 hilltribes people from
Burma, most of them long-time settlers previously classified as illegal
aliens, who are now in the process of naturalization.
   The great majority of the illegals cross border into Thailand through the
largely unmarked Burma frontier.
   Other nationalsCambodians, Laotians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Nepalese,
Indians, Sri Lankans and Chinese-are also streaming into Thailand in
everincreasing numbers.
   The Burmese nearly all land unskilled jobs, particularly the hard and
dangerous onesas labourers, construction workers and farmhands, housemaids,
miners and as crew on fishing trawlers.
   Most of the illegals from South Asian and China are brought in through
arrangement by racketeers who pay corrupt law enforcement officials to
facilitate their trade. Others travel to Thailand as tourists and overstay
their visas.
   The human smuggling rackets arrange accommodation and even find illegals
jobs in Bangkok and other industrial cities. People from South Asian nations
generally take up work as small traders, pedlars and security guards while
Chinese, many of whom have relatives in Thailand, find it easier to slot
inconspicuously into a wide range of occupations.
   "The growing economic disparities between Thailand and its neighbours serve
as a magnet for economic migrants seeking a better life while politics and
poverty are the main factors compelling them to leave their homelands," said
Niphon Phoaphongsakhon of Thammasat University's Faculty of Economics.
   Niphon said Thailand's high economic growth rate has helped reduce
unemployment to the extent that the country which has a very low annual
population growth of only 1.5 per cent, is now suffering from a labour
shortage.
   The problem can be expected to become more acute in the coming years, as
there will be fewer people entering the workforce thanks to the government's
introduction of nine-years compulsory education this year, he said.
   Greater job opportunities, increasing wages and a rise in the overall
standard of living resulting from high economic growth mean Thai workers can
now afford to be more selective in finding a job.
   According to the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, Thailand with a
POpulation of 57.7 million has 33 million people in the workforce. Of those in
the labour market only 1.4 million or about 4.2 per cent, were unemployed in
1992.
   It is noteworthy that the dramatic drop in the number of Thais working
abroad, most of them in the Middle East, from 120,000 in 1989 to 70,000 last
year has not translated into significantly higher unemployment.
   Also, of the 1.4 million unemployed only 340,000, or slightly more than one
per cent of the total workforce, were actually looking for work. The other
million or so were not actively seeking employment, although they were
available for jobs that met their expectation in terms of pay and conditions.
   Illegal immigrants have become increasingly visible in recent years
particularly in provinces bordering Burma and in Bangkok and other major citles.
   In the Burma border provincesTak, Mae Hong Son and Chiang Rai in the North,
and Kanchanaburi in the central regionillegal immigrants take up a large
proponion of the low-paying unskilled jobs. While in the southern province of
Ranong foreign workers do most of the menial and dangerous work.
   When the Interior Ministry last cracked down on illegal aliens, in mid
1991, tens of thousands of them were pushed back across border into Burma. The
exercise wreaked havoc with local industries which had become dependent on the
cheap labour, as well as with retail businesses relying on the foreign workers'
consumption.
   Provincial authorities, backed by the chambers of commerce of the border
provinces, asked the government to be lenient toward illegals, reasoning that
the local economies would collapse without them.
   Subsequently, the government has given tacit approval for their
employmentand illegal migrants have returned in force.
   Government agencies, including the Interior Ministry, the National Security
Council, the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, Immigration Division
and the Police Department, are weighing the advantages and the drawbacks of
the arrangement.
   Security and law enforcement officials, while acknowledging the local demand
for foreign workers, voice concern about possible short term problems like
crimes committed by illegal immigrants and, if the influx of large numbers
continues unchecked, disorder and social problems such as racial tension
resulting from failure by the foreigners to assimilate into Thai society.
   They propose that the government draw up clear guidelines to efficiently
control and manage the foreign labour forceto retain them for as long as they
are needed and then send them home once the labour shortage has eased.
   Labour officials are divided on the issue.
   Some say the availability of cheap labour from other countries has made it
difficult for them to enforce the daily minimum daily wage and protect Thai
workers against foreign competition. Others say the need for foreign workers
is real and that the government should regulate them.
   The provincial authorities and entrepreneurs, insisting that foreign labour
is indispensable to local economies, suggest that the government set up a quota
system to control the inflow of foreign workers and to protect local Thais. They
suggest that the use of foreigners will be phased out once Thai workers can be
found to replace them.
   Sources al the Skill Development Department said the department will ask the
government to consider allowing illegal immigrants from Burma to register to
work legally in the 10 provinces where employers report a labour shortage.
   They would have to register with the authorities and obtain work permits
which would be renewed annually before they were allowed to work in Chiang Mai,
Chiang Rai. Mac Hong Son, Tak, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuab
Khiri Khan Chumphon and Ranong.
   From THE NATION in English
   Date 18 January 1993
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai