How many Thais are middle income? where I am there are still many,many Thais working in rice fields and on building sites for 200 baht a day.

Are you sure those people you see aren't from neighbouring countries?

Mostly the Thais now seem to be employers are the immigrants doing all the back breaking stuff. Even small holders agriculture; the Thais may work along side the foreigners but mostly it's foreigners working the hardest. Building sites; Thais with skills on higher pay while the immigrants doing the labouring. The government gives free skills training for Thais or at a tiny charge, like a couple hundred bht to learn sparks or plumbing. Many skills courses on offer, motor cycle maintenance, barista, flower arranging, also the available financing for franchising; Thais are now largely a nation of entrepreneur and skilled labour.

Is this guy really suggesting that people should be poor to help Thailand be more competitive in the global marketplace? That would work very well at the top of his election campaign platform, wouldn't it?

How about making the environment more friendly for foreign investment, improving infrastructure, providing a better-educated and more capable workforce, etc. Thailand could never compete with India in terms of the number of poor people available to exploit.

Is this guy really suggesting that people should be poor to help Thailand be more competitive in the global marketplace? That would work very well at the top of his election campaign platform, wouldn't it?

How about making the environment more friendly for foreign investment, improving infrastructure, providing a better-educated and more capable workforce, etc. Thailand could never compete with India in terms of the number of poor people available to exploit.

No

The PM is saying they (Thailand ) need to move up to be higher skills and higher income country; because they can not compete on the cheap labour front of the other like Cambodia or Myanmar, ie because Thai labour is already more expensive.

wiki -

"The biggest challenge is moving from resource-driven growth that is dependent on cheap labor and capital to growth based on high productivity and innovation. This requires investments in infrastructure and education. As the Republic of Korea has proven, building a high-quality education system which encourages creativity and supports breakthroughs in science and technology is key"