Thailand has risen to the ranks of middle income countries largely through application
of the East Asian Economic Model, which is based on export oriented manufacturing
based on low wage cost competitiveness. Social and educational institutions have
been established to support this model and also to ensure that members of elite and
ruling classes reserved better opportunities for themselves and their offsprings. Consequently,
the Thai labour market displays very weak labour rights, incremental salary
increases based on age and entry level wages set by educational qualifications. These
factors have made older workers less popular in the non-professional sectors of the
labour market. When economic conditions are poor, then older workers tend to suffer
more and are generally less able to adapt to changing job market conditions. However,
as the Thai population begins to age, these factors will have to change as well or else
problems of elderly unemployment and poverty will intensify. As part of the effort to
understand the need for changes to combat these future events, research was conducted
into the perceptions of older workers in Thailand through qualitative interviewing.
The possibility of creating new employment opportunities in entrepreneurial
sectors was considered, in addition to job opportunities in the formal sector. Society
must absorb the lessons and implications of an increasing number of older people
and fewer younger people if economic and social development are to progress on a
sustainable basis in the future