1. Thailand’s Experiences on Compilation of Compensation to Employee and Workers’ Remittance statistics 12 June 2009 The Bank of Thailand

2. Topics Introduction Summary on Thai workers abroad Summary on Migrant workers in Thailand Data Source, compilation, data constraints Estimation on compensation of employees and workers’ remittance in Thailand Future plans

3. Introduction Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities Workers remittances are current transfers by migrants who are employed in new economies and considered residents there. For many economies, remittances represent a sizeable and stable source of funds that sometimes exceed official aid or financial inflows from foreign direct investment and have the potential to help cushion domestic economy and reduce trade deficits. Remittances may have a significant impact on poverty reduction and can finance economic growth in receiving economies. The international remittances has increased both in volumes as well as significance upon the recipients’ economies.

4. Summary on Thai workers abroad

5. Total number Thai workers abroad by Occupation (Flow) Occupation2005200620072008 Legislators, Senior Officials And Managers1,3711,5691,9192,148 Professionals3,1623,8544,1464,392 Technicians And Associate Professionals3,1364,1895,1445,932 Clerks1,1191,2931,7581,541 Service Workers And Shop And Market Sales Workers12,29012,95613,32113,662 Skilled Agricultural And Fishery Workers3185144,2415,678 Craft And Related Trades Workers44,63154,93454,92359,661 Plant And Machine Operators And Assemblers35,61538,55836,62731,634 Elementary Occupations38,02542,97939,83837,204 Total139,667160,846161,917161,852 Sources : Overseas Employment Administration Office, Department of Employment, Ministry of Labor Summary on Thai workers aboard

6. Total number Thai workers abroad by country (Flow) Country2005200620072008 Taiwan57,66362,06852,19345,088 Republic of Korea14,23216,45613,28715,730 Republic of Singapore11,78015,11516,27114,934 State of Israel8,7469,31210,9036,200 State of Qatar3,1397,5165,76210,722 Japan6,5857,2188,0027,555 Negara Brunei Darussalam5,2165,1414,1433,349 United Arab Emirates2,1273,6249,85012,973 Malaysia4,9153,4183,4323,476 Others25,26430,97838,07441,825 Total139,667160,846161,917161,852 Sources : Overseas Employment Administration Office, Department of Employment, Ministry of Labor Summary on Thai workers aboard The remaining outstanding of Thai worker abroad is estimated by the Ministry of Labor, using survey from Labor oversea offices (2007), the total stock of Thai workers stood around 450,000 persons

7. Summary on Migrant Workers in Thailand

8. Migrant Workers in Thailand There are 3 major categories of migrant workers in Thailand categoryData sourceOutstanding in 2008 (persons) Aliens who receive legal work permits (both high skills, professional and some labor workers) Administrative records, the Ministry of Labor (both flows & stock data) Approx. 200,000 Low skilled migrant workers with ‘illegal entry’ but later on ‘registered’ with the Ministry of Labor Registration records, the Ministry of Labor (stock) Approx. 560,000 Low skilled migrant workers with ‘illegal entry’ and no registration Data not available, some estimates are proxy from many independent studies Est. 1,200,000 Total estimate: approx. 2,000,000 migrant workers

9. Number of Aliens Who Received Work Permits During 2000 - 2008 (Outstanding) Country200020012002200320042005200620072008 Total76,79659,97871,16586,205106,988135,984154,220169,728201,097 Japan13,35514,14413,67716,73819,46721,09822,97624,31228,941 British5,6945,1665,1506,2167,3928,4859,49410,15011,923 American4,6834,1854,0994,8275,5416,4297,2347,8389,505 Chinese5,8905,4584,8836,0086,5209,57311,26811,29913,298 Indian5,0835,5555,1445,9176,7528,2639,2969,70410,727 Filippino2,7252,7772,3372,8193,5014,7095,9167,0918,740 Australian2,1061,9162,0902,3992,7233,1253,4053,5974,230 Myanmarna. 4,5595,2476,1177,8188,6647,3898,225 Others37,26020,77729,22636,03448,97566,48475,96788,348105,508 Sources : Office of Foreign Workers Administration, Department of Employment, Ministry of Labor Summary on Migrant workers: high skills, professional

10. Aliens Who Received Work Permits in the Whole Kingdom by Occupation (Outstanding ) Occupation2002200320042005200620072008 Legislators, Senior Officials And Managers33,79742,43850,39559,43567,99373,73385,894 Professionals11,85114,22117,06920,33923,80926,90632,790 Technicians And Associate Professionals4,1475,2926,6457,4318,4049,22611,178 Clerks7638391,0251,1491,2361,6632,121 Service Workers And Shop And Market Sales Workers2,6453,4034,6245,8316,2497,0018,172 Skilled Agricultural And Fishery Workers1,3391,8342,9706,4936,8336,8186,816 Craft And Related Trades Workers2,0022,1602,5403,1303,6854,0544,615 Plant And Machine Operators And Assemblers7108751,1051,3601,4071,5691,902 Elementary Occupations7,86910,03216,23726,97031,18335,64144,628 Occupations Unidentifiable5,9144,9584,1693,6313,1752,7662,550 Training128153209215246351431 Total71,16586,205106,988135,984154,220169,728201,097 Sources : Office of Foreign Workers Administration, Department of Employment, Ministry of Labor Summary on Migrant workers: high skills, professional

11. Total number of Migrant workers who received work permits (Flow) 2005200620072008 Legislators, Senior Officials and Managers21,98422,40021,84121,976 Professionals13,10214,42314,81414,559 Technicians and Associate Professionals5,8136,0567,0346,638 Clerks5755051,0251,180 Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers2,5982,2212,4842,714 Skilled Agricultural and Fishery Workers4,6202,7452,0291,810 Craft and Related Trades Workers1,5002,2262,3042,102 Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers9031,0329971,108 Elementary Occupations17,07916,39217,70319,103 Occupations Unidentifiable348490780601 Training1271374311 Total68,64968,62771,05471,802 Sources : Office of Foreign Workers Administration, Department of Employment, Ministry of Labor Summary on Migrant workers: high skills, professional

12. Illegal entry, low skilled migrant workers: (both regis. + non regis.) Unlike the high skill component, the Low skilled migrant workers in Thailand tend to work in high labor intensive industries such as fishery, agriculture, textile, miner, construction and domestic helpers Large concentration in the Bangkok and nearby provincial areas. The North (textile) The South (fishery) Can shift from industry to industry depending upon current demands Some studies indicate that their earnings are below Thai minimum wage Do not rely on bank channel when remitting their incomes back to their families

13. Methods/channels of remittances chosen by migrant workers in Thailand (low skilled) Through friends/relatives/individual dealers: dealers pick up the money at factory site, with average fee 3-10% of remitted amount or 1.5-3.3 USD per transactions Local bank transfer to designated domestic accounts pertaining to friends/relatives/individual dealers and then the dealers deliver the migrants' families fund to the family Migrants personally bring the physical cash home upon their return or temporary home visit Source: The Bank of Thailand Regional Office survey on local establishments (2008)

14. Current data source, compilation and data constraints

15. CE and WR compilation CreditDebit Compensation of employees ITRS under ‘Income’ category some from ITRS, data reported under ‘other services’ category Workers’ remittancesITRS, reported as part of under ‘compensation of employees’ and ‘other sector transfer/current transfer’ ITRS, can not be distinguished from ‘other services’ and ‘other sector transfer/current transfer’

16. Concerns & data constraints Transactions data from ITRS are recorded on cash basis and netting out rather than on ‘accrued’ and ‘gross’ basis and hence lead to underestimation of gross data. Remittance flows data on debit side are included in ‘other services’ category and hence could not explicitly identified due to limitation of the ITRS report forms due to limitation on data source and lack of additional data to distinguish between CE and WR on credit side

17. Compensation of Employees and other private transfers : Thailand 2000 - 2008 Millions of USD 4,899.2 1,898.4 491.8 Concerns & data constraints ITRS cannot separate short-term and long-term work contract. This hence led to the constraint on the input that we could not explicitly separate ‘workers’ remittance’ from ‘compensation of employee’. Lack of information on total number of workers and average earnings and wages of workers with ‘illegal entries’

18. Estimation on compensation of employees and workers’ remittance in Thailand

19. Need new method of estimation: Data model with supplementary information from other secondary sources SourceData used Ministry of Labor (Dept of Oversea employment, Thai labor oversea offices etc.) Total # of workers (registered) (flow + remaining stocks) including estimates of Thai workers abroad (flow & stock), with work duration (i.e., less than 1 yr, 1-2 yr, 2- 3 yr and more than 3 yrs) Thailand Development Research Institution (TDRI)Thai labor market outlook, independent studies on remittances National Statistic Office (NSO)Related data on workers, employments by local establishments etc. International Labor Organization (ILO)Data on low skilled migrant workers, estimates on remittances and in-kind (independent studies in 2008 via surveys and interview migrant HHs along border area) BOT’s Regional Branch Survey on local establishments (2008) Ad-hoc exercise, capture data on migrant worker incomes, methods/channels of remittances, sector of employments etc.

20. ‘New estimation’ on compensation of employees : Thai workers abroad Number of workers(flow) <1 year and 1 year up by occupation & country-yearly Compensation of employees X Average earning (GDP per capita or minimum wage by occupation & country) per year = Gross Earnings/Compensation

21. Estimation on workers’ remittance : Thai workers abroad Workers’ remittance Number of Thai workers abroad (stock) by occupation & country end of year Number of Thai workers abroad by occupation & country (flow) 1 year up X Average earning (GDP per capita or minimum wage by occupation & country - Expenditure from domestic saving rate by country (ongoing work) - Remittances of residents In kind 5% of cash remittances

22. Estimation on compensation of employees : Migrant workers in Thailand Number of high skill workers (flow) 1 year up by occupation & country - monthly Number of high skill workers (stock) < 1 year by occupation & country - monthly Compensation of employees X Average earning per capita by occupation per month + = Gross Earnings/Compensation

23. Estimation on workers’ remittance : migrant workers in Thailand Workers’ remittance : 3 components Number of high skill workers (stock) 1 year up - Number of high skill workers (flow) 1 year up X Average earning Number of illegal workers registered (stock) Number of illegal workers registered (flow)1 year up Average earning Estimation on number of illegal workers non registered (stock) Average earning - X X Estimate expenditure 30% of gross earnings Expenditure survey from regional office 70% for remittances (in kind 30%) (ref. ILO & Mahidol U.THA research) 70% for cash remittances (in kind 30%) (ref. ILO & Mahidol U. THA research) 70% for remittances - Expenditure survey from regional office -

24. 2005 2006 2007 2008

25. 2006 2007 2008

28. Future plans

29. Future Plans Study and use data models to find proxy to calculate remittances: e.g., more details on … Expenditures/savings/remittance pattern of high income Ex-Pat workers # of independent family members Migrant workers’ expenditures Thai workers’ expenditures abroad Utilize households survey to capture more parameters involving remittances (e.g., HH savings, remittances behavior, both cash and in-kinds) Other supplemental surveys: labor surveys at airport, foreign labor surveys (regional)