The first and most important is that there are not yet enough schools. Secondly, because the incomes of most Thai families are still relatively low, keeping children at school imposes a considerable financial strain. Children, therefore, leave school to help in basic household chores. Thirdly, many Thais living in rural areas have as yet an inadequate appreciation of the ultimate value of education beyond the level of basic literacy. The number of rural children progressing beyond the fourth grade is consequently very small.
Unemployment is largely an urban problem.
These, and a number of similar reasons, contribute to a waste of educational resources, a loss of income, and other potential economic, social or political problems. Underemployment is a pernicious problem everywhere, but in rural areas represents the greatest overall loss of potential income. The most obvious causes are the highly seasonal nature of activities in traditional agriculture, and in some cases land holdings too small to fully occupy the working members of a family. Underemployment also occurs, of course, when persons are employed in jobs requiring less skill than the occupations for which they were trained. Rural to urban area migration.