Written by Mekong Institute

The objective of this research aims to study the push and pull factors that are causing the mobility in the labor market towards Myanmar migrant workers situated in the Chiang Rai province of Thailand. It also aims to analyze the implementation of policies on the Mutual Agreement of Understanding on foreign labor employment. The recommended policy implementation will be proposed for labor management effectively.

This research employed mixed methodology using both quantitative and qualitative methods on two types of the sample population (1) 386 illegal Myanmar migrant workers by using Taro Yamane technique and Quota Sampling from the types of enterprises comprising 201 construction workers, 118 agriculture and livestock workers, 67 continuing agriculture workers, and (2) 10 representatives of the employer and the enterprise who hire the illegal migrant workers, 5 representatives of the government officers, through purposive selection. The methods of data collection consist of questionnaires and structured interview. The statistical tool used is frequency distribution and Pearson Product Moment Correlation for data analysis.

Research Findings  

The research results revealed that the nationality and origin among the Myanmar migrant workers is Myanmar (73.3%), some other tribal groups are Shan people, Kachin, Karen, Tai Lue, Akha and Kayar. Most of the workers came from the Mandalay region. The push factor from the sending country which motivates them to come to Chiang Rai is caused by low income and low wage, unstable occupation, unemployment and there is no job opportunity, inadequate income to sustain the cost of living, need to increase family asset such as land and house, and also the process for leaving the country is easy. The pull factors from the receiving country particularly in the Chiang Rai province of Thailand were steady income, high opportunity to get job, easy to commute to Chiang Rai, ability to save money, high wage and the working environment is better than in the home country, good quality of life and basic needs such as food, clothing and housing had been fulfilled.

The findings had confirmed that the push factors from the sending country has shown relationship between the mobility of migrant workers to labor market in the Chiang Rai province correlates with low income, lack of amenities in life, and quality of life in the receiving country is much better. The recommended policy implementation proposed to the government is that there should be improvement in the employment procedure and established measure for proving the nationality.