What’s the incentive? Comparing regular and irregular migrant work experiences from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to Thailand
This publication provides a comparative assessment of labour migration processes between Lao People’s Democratic Republic to Thailand, using a series of indicators including working time, wages and remittances, freedom of movement and other working and living conditions.
Regular migration is often seen as the safest and most beneficial means of migrating for work. Little empirical work, however, has been conducted comparing the experiences of regular and irregular migrant workers, and assessing the associated migration outcomes.
This report, informed by two surveys, considers the relative experiences of regular and irregular migrant workers travelling from Lao PDR to Thailand. It outlines the regulatory framework for labour migration between the two countries, evaluates regular migrant workers’ experiences, and compares these with conditions faced by irregular migrant workers. The study covers respondents’ backgrounds and pre-departure conditions; recruitment; working and living conditions in Thailand; and return to Lao PDR. Overall, it finds that regular labour migration has yielded more positive migrant work outcomes than irregular channels, though both regular and irregular migrant workers report numerous and varied challenges and decent work deficits during their migrant work experience.
To inform this research, UNDP, through its United Nations Action for Cooperation against Trafficking in Persons (UN-ACT) project, and the ILO interviewed 259 Lao migrants after they returned from working in Thailand. This included roughly even numbers of regular and irregular workers, allowing for comparisons in experiences across both groups.
The study was supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency through the UN-ACT project.
This report, informed by two surveys, considers the relative experiences of regular and irregular migrant workers travelling from Lao PDR to Thailand. It outlines the regulatory framework for labour migration between the two countries, evaluates regular migrant workers’ experiences, and compares these with conditions faced by irregular migrant workers. The study covers respondents’ backgrounds and pre-departure conditions; recruitment; working and living conditions in Thailand; and return to Lao PDR. Overall, it finds that regular labour migration has yielded more positive migrant work outcomes than irregular channels, though both regular and irregular migrant workers report numerous and varied challenges and decent work deficits during their migrant work experience.
To inform this research, UNDP, through its United Nations Action for Cooperation against Trafficking in Persons (UN-ACT) project, and the ILO interviewed 259 Lao migrants after they returned from working in Thailand. This included roughly even numbers of regular and irregular workers, allowing for comparisons in experiences across both groups.
The study was supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency through the UN-ACT project.