Thailand’s economic success is deeply tied to the labor of migrant workers from neighboring countries, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. Across construction sites, seafood factories, farms, manufacturing plants, and private homes, migrant workers perform many of the physically demanding and low-paid jobs that large numbers of Thai nationals increasingly avoid. Yet despite their essential contribution to the country’s economy, millions of migrants continue to live and work under conditions shaped by insecurity, exclusion, and limited legal protection.

A recent report, Structural Precariousness: Recruitment and Employment Practices of Migrant Workers in Bangkok Metropolitan Region’s Construction Industry, published by Rosalia Sciortino, Sibenya Putthasiraapakorn, and Vinissa Kattiya-aree from the Institute for Population and Social Research at Mahidol University in collaboration with the Baan Dek Foundation, provides a detailed examination of these realities through the lens of Thailand’s construction sector. Based on fieldwork conducted between 2024 and 2025, the report documents how migrant workers remain central to Thailand’s labor system while simultaneously facing exploitation, unstable legal status, poor living conditions, and barriers to healthcare and social protection. 

Although focused specifically on construction workers in Bangkok and surrounding areas, the report paints a broader picture of the structural inequalities shaping migrant labor across Thailand. Researchers argue that Thailand’s migration system is marked by a fundamental contradiction: the country depends heavily on migrant workers to sustain economic growth, yet state policies continue to treat these workers as temporary outsiders rather than long-term members of society.

As of March 2025, Thailand was home to nearly five million migrant workers from neighboring countries, according to the report. More than 72 percent were from Myanmar, reflecting both Thailand’s demand for labor and the continuing political and economic crisis in Myanmar following the military coup of February 2021. Migrants now account for more than 10 percent of Thailand’s labor force and contribute an estimated 4.3 to 6.6 percent of the country’s GDP. 

Thailand’s aging population and declining birth rate have further increased reliance on migrant labor. As younger Thai workers increasingly move into higher-skilled jobs or reject physically demanding industries, sectors such as construction, agriculture, manufacturing, and domestic work have become heavily dependent on workers from neighboring countries. In construction alone, migrant workers now form the backbone of labor-intensive projects across Bangkok and other urban centers.

Yet while migrant labor remains economically indispensable, the report argues that Thailand’s migration governance system continues to prioritize control and securitization over long-term inclusion. Cross-border migrant workers are largely treated as temporary laborers regardless of how long they have lived in the country. Many have spent years, even decades, in Thailand, but still face restrictive visa arrangements, limited labor mobility, and uncertainty over their legal status.

Thailand’s migration system currently operates through three main pathways: bilateral labor agreements known as Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), border pass systems for short-term workers, and periodic Cabinet Resolutions that temporarily regularize undocumented migrants already living in Thailand. While the MOU system is officially promoted as the preferred legal migration channel, the report notes that many migrants avoid it because of high recruitment costs, bureaucratic delays, and restrictive employment conditions. 

As a result, large numbers of migrants enter Thailand through informal or irregular channels before attempting to regularize their status later through government amnesty programs. Researchers found that this pattern was particularly common among workers from Myanmar, many of whom fled economic collapse, armed conflict, military conscription fears, and political instability after the 2021 coup.

The report describes how migration from Myanmar has increasingly become shaped by humanitarian crisis as much as economic necessity. Many recent migrants crossed the border with the help of brokers or informal networks because obtaining official documents through Myanmar authorities had become difficult, expensive, or dangerous. Some migrants reported paying brokers between 15,000 and 30,000 baht for transportation, border crossings, and job placement in Thailand. 

For many workers, however, entering Thailand is only the beginning of a longer cycle of legal and economic insecurity. The report repeatedly highlights how complex registration procedures and temporary legal statuses leave migrants vulnerable to exploitation. Workers whose visas or permits expire can quickly become undocumented, exposing them to arrest, detention, deportation, and extortion. Fear of authorities also discourages many migrants from reporting abuse or seeking assistance.

These vulnerabilities are particularly visible in Thailand’s construction industry, where researchers conducted extensive interviews with migrant workers, subcontractors, brokers, government officials, and civil society organizations. The study found that construction companies frequently rely on multi-layered subcontracting systems that diffuse responsibility for labor conditions and create accountability gaps.

Large firms often outsource recruitment and labor management to subcontractors, who may in turn depend on informal brokers or smaller labor suppliers. In practice, this system allows companies to access cheaper and more flexible labor while distancing themselves from legal obligations concerning wages, working conditions, and migrant documentation.

The report notes that many migrant construction workers were employed through verbal agreements rather than written contracts, leaving them with little legal recourse when disputes occurred. Wage theft, delayed payment, and underpayment were common complaints among workers interviewed during the study. Most workers reported earning between 310 and 350 baht per day, below Bangkok’s official minimum wage of 372 baht. 

Safety standards were also inconsistent. Although construction work is highly dangerous, many workers reported receiving only helmets, with limited access to boots, gloves, or other protective equipment. Researchers found that long subcontracting chains often made it unclear who was responsible for workplace safety or compensation in the event of injury or death.

The dangers associated with migrant construction work became especially visible after the collapse of a Bangkok high-rise building following an earthquake centered in Myanmar earlier this year. According to the report, the disaster sparked public debate over the precarious conditions facing migrant workers after concerns emerged that some victims may not have been officially registered with construction companies because they had been hired informally through subcontractors. 

The tragedy also exposed broader questions about compensation and legal recognition. Government officials initially stated that compensation would be limited to migrants with proper documentation, prompting criticism from labor advocates and civil society organizations who argued that undocumented workers should not be excluded from protection simply because of systemic failures in Thailand’s labor and migration systems.

Rosalia Sciortino, lead researcher in the project, participated in a discussion during the launch event for the report, held at SEA Junction on 20 April, along with Rebecca Napier-Moore from the ILO. Sciortino argued that the building collapse reflected broader structural problems within Thailand’s migration and labor systems rather than an isolated disaster. She noted that migrant workers often remain hidden within complex subcontracting chains that allow companies to benefit from flexible labor while avoiding responsibility for workplace safety, compensation, and legal protections.

It was also noted during the discussion that migrant workers continue to be treated as “temporary labor inputs” despite the fact that entire sectors of the Thai economy depend on their work and that undocumented migrants are often excluded from protection not because they are outside the system, but because the system itself produces irregularity through expensive, restrictive, and constantly changing registration processes. Long-term reforms would require simplifying legal registration procedures, strengthening labor inspections, and ensuring that migrant workers can report abuse or unsafe conditions without fear of arrest or deportation.

The report further highlights how legal insecurity affects nearly every aspect of migrant workers’ lives beyond the workplace. Housing conditions in construction camps were often overcrowded, poorly ventilated, and lacking privacy. Women workers faced particular difficulties due to inadequate childcare facilities and unsafe living conditions.

Sciortino also noted during the launch that migrant women frequently carry a double burden. Women are often hired as construction workers in Thailand and perform the same tasks as men, but are also carrying the caregiving and domestic tasks in the camps.

Children living in construction camps also faced serious challenges. Researchers documented concerns about inadequate access to education, unsafe environments, and the lack of recreational spaces. Some older children and teenagers reportedly participated in construction work informally alongside relatives, despite legal restrictions on child labor.

Healthcare access emerged as another major issue throughout the study. Although Thailand’s healthcare system is often regarded as one of the strongest in Southeast Asia, migrants continue to face numerous obstacles in accessing medical services. Administrative barriers, language difficulties, lack of information, and fear of immigration enforcement all discourage migrants from seeking care.

The report found that even migrants eligible for public health insurance or social security programs were frequently not enrolled because both workers and employers sought to avoid the required costs. As a result, many migrants relied on private clinics, self-medication, alternative remedies, or loans to pay for treatment. Others delayed medical care altogether due to financial concerns or fear of attracting official attention. 

These weaknesses became especially visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, when outbreaks among migrant communities exposed longstanding inequalities in healthcare access and living conditions. The pandemic also disrupted migration and registration systems, worsening insecurity for many workers already living in precarious circumstances.

More broadly, the report situates Thailand’s migration dynamics within larger regional inequalities across Southeast Asia. Wage differences, economic disparities, environmental pressures, and political instability continue to drive migration flows from poorer neighboring countries into Thailand. For many migrants, even exploitative jobs in Thailand offer significantly higher incomes than opportunities available at home.

With Thailand's demographic changes, labour shortages, and continued regional instability, migrant workers will remain essential to the country's economy. Failing to improve labour protections and social inclusion could deepen existing inequalities while undermining long-term economic sustainability. Major structural reforms to Thailand's migration and labour systems are therefore needed.

At the launch, Sciortino said that recommended reform included expanding legal migration pathways, reducing the costs and complexity of regularization, improving labor law enforcement, strengthening oversight of subcontracting systems, and ensuring equal access to healthcare and social protections regardless of immigration status. 

She also emphasized the need for gender-sensitive policies and stronger protections for migrant children and families and argued that migration governance must move beyond short-term labor management toward a more inclusive approach that recognizes migrants as long-term contributors to Thai society.

The report further links these reforms to Thailand’s international commitments, including its ambitions to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) by 2030 and its role as a champion country for the United Nations Global Compact for Migration. According to the researchers, improving migrant rights is not only a humanitarian issue but also increasingly tied to global expectations surrounding ethical labor practices, corporate accountability, and responsible supply chains.

Ultimately, the report presents Thailand’s dependence on migrant labor as both an economic reality and a political challenge. Migrants continue to sustain industries that many Thai nationals no longer wish to enter, yet their labor remains undervalued and their rights unevenly protected. The result is a system in which economic necessity and social exclusion coexist uneasily.

As Thailand confronts an aging population, regional instability, and growing labor shortages, the report argues that the country faces an urgent choice: continue managing migration through temporary and precarious arrangements, or move toward a more inclusive system that recognizes migrant workers not simply as labor inputs, but as rights-bearing individuals whose work sustains entire sectors of the economy.