Conclusion

While Thailand’s economy has grown significantly since the global forces of invest-

ment inflows and trade expanded strongly, especially since 1985, over half of the

labour force has still remained in non-wage employment as late as 2009. The nature

of work created by FDI driven export-oriented industrialization, which is exposed to

the vicissitudes of volatile fluctuations in demand, has meant that the employment

opportunities created are not permanent. Farming has often acted as the shock

absorber whenever external shocks hit the economy as is the case with the

19971998 and 20082009 economic crises. While some industries have benefited from global integration, e.g. automobiles, they

do not constitute the main body of manufacturing activities in Thailand. It is here that the

failure of the Thai state to stimulate industrial upgrading from low to higher value added

activities despite introducing the minimum wage has led a number of employers to seek

cost cutting measures to continue to compete in low value added activities. The dire con-

sequences of such measures include the subcontracting of labour to homeworkers who

are paid low rates for their work. The outsourcing of work in activities, such as, in the

clothing industry, has undermined the bargaining power of workers as employers often

do not observe labour laws governing the informal sector. The liberalization of the econ-

omy has increased casualization of work with the informal sector increasingly playing a

major role.