the progress of late-developing economies like Thailand owed much to the expansion in labour intensive industries. Thailand’s boom decade saw textile and garment manufacturing, established in the 1960s, play a significant role in the growth of export-oriented industrialisation. Over the past two decades the Board of Investment has promoted Thailand as a secure place for investment, with abundant cheap labour. Investors are also attracted by the reality that unenforced labour laws backed by low rates of trade unionism result in an ‘ease of doing business’, especially in labour intensive sectors, where the workforce is easily controlled.