Resource information
1. INTRODUCTION:
People from Burma have been entering Thailand since the Ne Win coup in 1962. Most of these people have fled civil war, hunger, poverty, unemployment and political oppression. A significant proportion of these Burmese are employed in the lower rungs of the Thai labour market. Despite the large numbers of people from Burma working in Thailand, there has been very little reliable statistical analysis undertaken in order to understand the situation faced by these people. The paucity of reliable information in this area led us to conduct a survey of about 1,400 people from Burma working in Thailand.1 The survey was undertaken between October 2003 and March 2004, in the following 12 provinces:
• Bangkok
• Singburi
• Lopburi
• Saraburi
• Tak (Mae Sot District)
• Ratchaburi
• Kanchanburi (Kanchanaburi and Sangklaburi Districts)
• Ranong (Ranong District)
• Samut Sakhon (Mahachai)
• Phetchaburi
• Chiang Mai (Chiang Mai and Fang Districts)2
• Mae Hong Son (Mae Hong Son District)...The following is a discussion of the results of a partial preliminary statistical analysis of a sample of about 1,100 of these workers with regard to their place of origin, time of arrival, income in the last 20 years, receipt of a minimum wage and their possession of a work permit.3 The analysis does not involve the estimation of population parameters and any consequent inferences about the nature of the population (though inferences about the population will be published later). Rather, the following is a statistical description of Burmese workers in Thailand, which we, argue is important given the paucity of reliable and credible work in this area.
