ABSTRACT
Rapid change in the composition of the labour force is perhaps a defining feature of industrialisation in contemporary Southeast Asia. The extent and rapidity of labour mobility both in terms of movement between agriculture and between different industrial sectors, and in terms of the spatial movement of different categories of migrant labour is remarkable. In any given context the movement of labour is guided by more than simply the supply and demand of labour. An economistic approach that relies on labour force and employment statistics to trace labour movements in rapidly changing contexts such as Thailand will inevitably fail to reveal the full and highly textured picture. Such an approach would also fail to elucidate how these movements are a response to a combination of micro and macro forces. Moreover, it is misleading to treat ‘labour’ as a homogenous category, as at any one time the composition of the labour force even within a particular industry is highly differentiated and can change rapidly. An approach to labour mobility that takes a multi-sectoral, longitudinal, and spatial perspective – focusing on labour movements in a single locality rather than a single sector – can reveal the source and patterns of change. This chapter illustrates the complexity of labour markets by depicting the movement of local, national migrant and immigrant labour between three different sectors – the agricultural sector, local industry and export-oriented industry – in a central Thai district. The account focuses on a period of rapid economic growth and even more sudden contraction from the 1980s and 1990s.
