REPORT: Human Capital and the Employment Situations of Urban Refugees in Thailand (Volume 1: Baseline Findings)

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Publication date: August 2021

Publication: Human Capital and the Employment Situations of Urban Refugees in Thailand (Volume 1: Baseline Findings)

Author: Bhanubhatra Kaan Jittiang

Download the report here.

The present study emerges from an urgent need to investigate human capital and employment situations of urban refugees in Thailand to provide a basis for advo- cating their right to work. This right was intentionally omitted during the drafting of the National Screening Mechanism (NSM). Nevertheless, since urban refugees will go through the NSM process and remain temporarily in Thailand soon, Section 63 of the Emergency Decree on Managing the Work of Aliens B.E. 2560 could provide them with a channel for employment. If that scenario were possible, what would these refugees contribute to Thailand’s labor market? To answer this question, it is essential to inves- tigate human capital and the potential of urban refugees. This volume fills such gaps by providing the results of a baseline survey. In addition, as the COVID-19 pandemic remains consequential, this report explores the employment situations of urban refu- gees during the pandemic and compares it to the preceding period; this could provide additional insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected refugees’ employment and vulnerabilities.

The results presented in this report provide supply-side data for recognizing the available human capital of urban refugees in Thailand. It focuses specifically on their skills, education, and prior work experience, which could be beneficial to Thai society. This report helps to identify the way urban refugees have made use of their human capital in Thailand through an exploration of their employment situations. Based on the findings of the present study, the Thai government and other stakeholders in Thai- land can plan how urban refugees could be integrated into Thailand’s labor market or how they could assist refugee employment in the long run.