Thailand's Inequalities Extend Well Beyond The Rich And Poor

[webfact]

Thailand's inequalities extend well beyond the rich and poor

By Yuxue Xue

Special to The Nation

Social inequality has been a long and difficult challenge for Thailand. Over recent decades, there has been a perception that inequality is a natural by-product of a booming economy, and that any concerted effort to bridge the gap will be in vain. But this is not the case. The government's national reconciliation road map, presented earlier this year, specifically mentions addressing social inequality as one of its five major components. Indeed, social equality must be a national priority.

A quick measure of social inequality is the difference between the top 20 per cent and the bottom 20 per cent of households. In modern societies like Japan or Norway, the top 20 per cent earn three or four times that of the bottom 20 per cent. According to the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) 2009 "Thailand Human Development Report", the number is 13 per cent more. Or more simply, the richest 20 per cent hold over 50 per cent of the national income, while the poorest 20 per cent hold less than 5 per cent.

While it might seem simple to quantify social and economic inequality by simple labels like rich and poor, Thailand's deep polarisation is vastly more complicated than that. There are unseen dichotomies and contrasts that have been hiding in plain sight.

Along the many border regions and hidden in Thailand's many factories and plants, hundreds of thousands of "informal workers" labour without formal status and access to any social safety net. Thailand is home to 3.5 million people without permanent status - including illegal migrants, displaced persons and long-standing residents without full citizenship. They include ethnic minorities from Burma, Laos, China and Cambodia - who comprise the huge migrant labour force upon which Thailand's economy is heavily reliant.

Many lack the ability to earn a living wage, simply because of restrictions on movement. Their options for judicial remedy, from solving labour disputes to clarity on their immigration status, are uncertain and limited at best. The "non-formal" worker and the stateless person are one and the same in their lack of relief. Many are far too exposed to the combinations of human trafficking, repeated sexual harassment, and the pains of low wages and unsafe or dirty work environments. Their inequality is our insecurity. And yet sadly, the scope of the problem is much worse.

Recent political and social unrest has revealed old wounds between the rural and urban social classes. As many as one in 10 rural households are likely to be poor, particularly in the North. Rural families are likely to be larger and dependent on one another for their basic well-being. While overall poverty has declined in Thailand, this widely-accepted measurement has shown that inequality has only worsened since records began nearly 50 years ago.

This is difficult news to bear for a new generation of Thais who are increasingly mobile and who long for the opportunities their parents never had the fortune of receiving. Children of small family farms no longer want to live the rural life, and instead dream of going to Bangkok or Chiang Mai in search of new paths.

Unfortunately, the economic recession has recreated an all-too-common dichotomy of the employed versus the newly unemployed. Almost 60 per cent of Thailand's workforce is employed either in the informal sector or in agriculture. Many people, like the young farmers, remain in this sector because of low education and a lack of employment opportunity. For those that do manage to escape, they often return during economic downturns.

The bulk of Thailand's labour force is highly mobile and moves quickly from the cities to the country, but it remains severely exposed to economic insecurities and vulnerabilities.

The degree of equality or inequality in a society is ultimately a matter of social choice. A continued national dialogue on social inequality is the beginning of that new choice for Thailand, where collective voices bring promise and a renewed sense of prominence to this most critical issue. Not seizing this new opportunity would bring consequences that cross beyond economic and social boundaries.

It can say many things about Thailand's commitment to a just and equitable society when those who seek opportunity find it, when the long struggle of those seeking peace and justice is achieved, and the long march to freedom and prosperity ends with a substantial investment in a better tomorrow. For in the end, we are all bound, all affected, by social disparities.

There is no single cause to inequality, no single solution, nor is there a single group responsible for it. And it is not the government's responsibility alone. Each of us has something to contribute to making Thailand more equitable. But the conversation must start here and continue here - right now.

Yuxue Xue is the UN Development Programme's deputy resident representative for Thailand.

-- The Nation 2010-09-25

[geriatrickid]

Is it just me, but does anyone else see the parallels to the USA with Mexicans and Central Americans and to the EU with North Africans? Countries may be different, but the problems are the same.

[steppenwolf108]

The [less than] 20% of the rich are rich because they pay ridiculous salaries to their workers while enjoying healthy profits from their businesses.

The [more than] 80% of the poor are poor because there have almost 0% possibilities to increase their status over the period of their working life.

Unless you graduate from one of the top 3 Universities in Bangkok, the chances of getting a job paying more than 20,000 baht after 3 years are really slim.

For most of the Thai worker, it's what they call "work for free" because at the end of the month, their salary can barely cover their basic costs.

The domestic market is way too little compared to the actual production of the Country and with a weak domestic market, it's basically impossible to solve the issue of the social inequalities.

And the system is built in a way so that things can be kept as they are: rich getting richer, poor staying poor.

[BanTamo]

yes, indeed, the parallels are strong and shameful. but the article is onto something ... its way more complicated and embedded in thai culture ... and the redshirt protests of earlier this year only scratched the surface ... a painful subject, especially for this farang who spent several years in the rice fields of ubon

[Sabre]

The problem is worse than one might suppose from the raw numbers. A significant - and it's impossible to say how significant - portion of Thailand's economy is 'underground'.

Thais are liable tor taxation on their income worldwide, but most wealthy Thais have offshore accounts (BVI, Cayman Islands etc.) in which to hide their loot.

Considering how much money is spent on corruption, vote-buying and so forth, as well as earnings from prostitution, illegal drugs, arms and human trafficking one starts to wonder if the black economy might just not be bigger than the legitimate economy. When you consider that Thailand's GDP might be a lot higher than is reported, you even start to question whether thailand really should be classified as a 'developing nation'. And yet there are a lot of poor people, that is undeniable.

My point is, in Thailand there is more than enough to go around, and yet a lot of people are not getting enough. No prizes for guessing where it is all going.

[siamtexan]

until Thai education system stops teaching young students that Thais are the greatest and all other surrounding counties are made up of lowly folks not deserving respect or notice, the underground work force that props up the factories and construction industry will remain the poorest and least represented group living in Thailand.

[damian7000]

i'm sorry... only 13% more than japan or norway? thailand is not that bad off then.

and the living and degree of happiness even with people making the very bottom wages is leagues beyond the people making minimum wages in western countries.

Edited September 25, 2010 by damian7000

[Canada]

In many ways Thailand is a not a poor country. It just has a lot of poor people.

Just my uneducated and uninformed theory....but based on observations.

[tim armstrong]

until Thai education system stops teaching young students that Thais are the greatest and all other surrounding counties are made up of lowly folks not deserving respect or notice, the underground work force that props up the factories and construction industry will remain the poorest and least represented group living in Thailand.

A good observation. The education system is designed to allow students not to think too much, but to simply repeat by rote what is taught, at all levels. Thailand is a conservative country, and by definition, self focussed and inward looking. Its not too difficult to understand why that's happened. But it will change and soon. When your average Thai knows a bit more about the world - it will be a different place. But I hope it doesn't lose all its values, as they're not all wrong.

[Thai at Heart]

until Thai education system stops teaching young students that Thais are the greatest and all other surrounding counties are made up of lowly folks not deserving respect or notice, the underground work force that props up the factories and construction industry will remain the poorest and least represented group living in Thailand.

I got my kid's reports last week from their bi-lingual school.

There is a new section in the report now which measures their quality of exhibiting good aspects of being Thai.

I had a good chuckle. I don't remember all of the sections, but I distinctly remember that the first one was 'love of King, Nation and Country". Of course all the kids got top marks, because how could a Thai school fail that one?

What would you have to teach a 7 year old so that they didn't love their country? More worrying, is the extensive efforts made to bash it into them that they must, as though love and devotion can be demanded.

[asiawatcher]

This is the first reasonable (sensible) article from the Nation in a long time. But I note it is a special correspondent - not staff! Of course. But the issues raised are all too real. Excellent reporting and more to come with some hope a few of the Thai echelon will take note - but I doubt it.

[Time Traveller]

I've got a different view on this, but it feels that too much attention is put on the the gap between the rich and the poor. Such a statistic is almost meaningless - the UN should know better - and more importantly, more (ALL) emphasis should be placed on what the real income of the poor is, does it cover the cost of basic necessities and finally how to raise the incomes of the poor. However, it seem no end of journalists, and socialist leaning writers complain about the wealth of the rich. Jealousy? Yes. I say congratulations to the rich for their success, after all they are the people with the businesses that create jobs. If they earned their wealth honestly who cares?

[gregb]

the bottom 20 per cent of households. In modern societies like Japan or Norway, the top 20 per cent earn three or four times that of the bottom 20 per cent.

2 words. GINI Coefficient. Google it.

Modern societies like Japan or Norway? Interesting choice of "modern societies". How about modern societies like the US or the UK? Oh. Oops. They are about the same as Thailand, especially the US. Honesty in reporting has never been a strong suit of Thai newspapers.

Face it guys. Thailand may not be great, but as far as wealth distribution goes, it compares quite favorably to many Western bastions of democracy. Truthfully, the poor in Thailand are much better off than the poor in the states. That doesn't mean things can't and shouldn't be improved, but an honest perspective is always more appropriate than selective exaggerations.

[chainarong]

Has any Thai got a real wage rise in the last decade ,besides the parasites, the ones I know haven't , stuck at 10thousand Bht pmc , end of story.

[way2muchcoffee]

Has any Thai got a real wage rise in the last decade ,besides the parasites, the ones I know haven't , stuck at 10thousand Bht pmc , end of story.

Then perhaps they need to find employment with a company that has annual wage increases. Nearly every Thai I know has seen several real wage increases in the last decade. This is especially true for those who were deserving and stayed with one employer for an extended period of several years.

Edited September 26, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[Felt 35]

http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/