The state of society and economy, problems, quality life of migrant workers in seafood export processing industries in Thailand.

• Author: Suwannarurk, Jidapa

1. INTRODUCTION

   Nowadays, there has been an increasing number of migrant workers from neighboring countries who look for work in Thailand. The main impulsion which attracts these workers to work here is due to a political factor, famine, and the insecurity in life and asset. Meanwhile, Thailand has faced with a shortage of labors in the manufacturing and factorial sectors, therefore, this increases the opportunity for the migrant workers to play a role in the labor cost (Panyakeaw, et al, 2008). The idea of managing migrant workers in Thailand in the past decade highlights that these migrant workers have harmonized well into the Thai society. It can be seen in Thailand that the neighboring countries share similar cultures and traditions, especially when they worship the same religion, Buddhism (Henchopdee, 2003).

   In addition, southern Thailand is a region with a very well-equipped for the establishment of seafoodexport processing industries because it locates next to the sea which has sufficiently large quantities of raw material to support this business. Besides, having a convenient route for transporting goods, this region is a main location for Southern Industrial Estate. Most industries here are connected to the agricultural manufacturing for export such as canned seafood industry, frozen seafood and cold storage (Thailand Development Research Institute, 2007).

   Accordingly, the researcher is interested in the study of the state of society and economy, problems and the quality of life of migrant workers in seafood export business in order to find a strategy which is able to urge the migrant workers to work with their full capacity. Moreover, the research findings can reflect the actual state of the migrant workers in the area of the study which is very beneficial for the seafood-export processing industries in terms of the demanding of labor force that will continually support the expansion of Thai economy.

2. MEASURING THE QUALITY OF WORK LIFE

   This study aimed to study the state of society and economy, problems and quality of life of migrant workers in the seafood-export processing industries in Thailand. The sample in this study was divided into two stages. The first stage consisted of 10 Burmese migrant workers who were asked for their social and economic condition. The second stage focused on the quality of life of the migrants which included a sample of 140 migrant workers. The research instrument included a questionnaire and issues for a group discussion. The questionnaire consisted of three parts. Part One concerned the informants' personal information including gender, age, marital status, number of children, past occupation before working in Thailand, reasons in deciding to work in Thailand, duration of staying in Thailand, department of work, ways to find a present job, work permit's possession, nature of employment, number of working days per week, number of working hours per day, and accommodation. Part Two was the information about the quality of life and quality of working life in 12 aspects including 1) Physical health, 2) Psychological, 3) Social relationships, 4) Environment (WHOQOL, 1997: 4), 5) Adequate and fair compensation, 6) Safe and healthy, 7) Immediate

   opportunity to use and develop human capabilities, 8) Opportunity for continued growth and security, 9) Social integration in the work organization, 10) Constitutionalism in the work organization (right to privacy, free speech and equitable treatment and due process), 11) Work and total life space, and 12) Social relevance of work life (Walton R.E,1975: 93-97). The last part of the questionnaire was an open-ended question asking about the improvement of the quality of life of Burmese migrant workers in the seafood export processing industries...