## 2 Study Background  
### The Economic Characteristics of Thai Provinces  
Table 1 presents the geographical regions of Thailand and the provinces located within each region. According to Table 1, the economic structure of the NE region is as follows: the agricultural sector accounts for 19.6%, the industrial sector for 20.2%, and the service sector for 53.1%. The labor structure of the NE region is as follows: the agricultural sector comprises 53.1% of the workforce, the industrial sector 8.0%, and the service sector 39.0%. The majority of the labor force is employed in the agricultural sector, as well as in trading and general employment [10]. In the case of the NO region, the agricultural sector accounts for 24.5% of the region's economy, the industrial sector for 19.6%, and the service sector for 55.9%. In terms of its labor structure, the agricultural sector comprises 43.8% of the workforce, the industrial sector 10.2%, and the service sector 45.9%. It is evident that the majority of the labor force is employed in the agricultural sector and works as traders or general laborers, similar to in the NE region [10]. In the SO region, the agricultural sector accounts for 26.2% of the region's economy, the industrial sector for 16.4%, and the service sector for 57.4%. The labor structure in the SO region is as follows: the agricultural sector comprises 41.9% of the workforce, the industrial sector 8.7%, and the service sector 49.4%. The majority of the labor force is employed in the agricultural sector, primarily working in rubber plantations, and in the tourism industry, providing services [10]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline
\begin{tabular}{c} BANGOK METROPOLIS, SAMUT \\ PRAKAN, PATHUM THANI, SAMUT \\ SAKHON, NAKHON PATHOM, \\ NONTHABURI \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: All provinces of Thailand. The economic structure of the EA region is as follows: the agricultural sector accounts for 7.2%, the industrial sector for 62.6%, and the service sector for 30.2%. The labor structure of the EA region is as follows: the agricultural sector comprises 22.1% of the workforce, the industrial sector 27.2%, and the service sector 50.7%. The majority of the labor force is employed in the service and industrial sectors, as this area is an industrial estate with a large number of workers residing there [10]. As for the WE region, the agricultural sector accounts for 21.3%, the industrial sector for 29.7%, and the service sector for 48.9%. In terms of its labor distribution, 32.6% of the workforce is employed in agriculture, 15.3% in industry, and 52.1% in services. This region primarily focuses on tourism and agriculture [10]. Regarding the economic structure of the CE region, the agricultural sector accounts for 6.5%, the industrial sector 58.0%, and the service sector 35.5%. In this region, 21.1% of the workforce is employed in agriculture, 28.8% in industry, and 50.1% in services. This region is home to large industrial estates, with most of the labor force working in the service and industrial sectors [10]. Finally, in the BKK&VIC region, the agricultural sector accounts for 0.6%, the industrial sector for 22.4%, and the service sector for 77.0%. In this region, 2.7% of the workforce is employed in agriculture, 27.4% in industry, and 69.9% in services. Bangkok and its vicinity are major economic hubs featuring industrial estates, business districts, department stores, and residential areas. Notably, the economic output of Bangkok and its vicinity accounts for nearly half of the country's GDP (47.6% of Thailand's GDP in 2022) [10]. Table 2 illustrates the gross regional product (GRP), GRP per capita, and GDP contributions of the seven geographical regions. As seen in Table 2, the region with the highest GRP is the BKK&VIC region, followed by the EA region in second place, NE region in third, and SO region in fourth. The remaining regions--NO, CE, and WE--have the lowest economic activity in Thailand.