Public Project
LIFE ON THE OTHER SIDE
Summary
With a land border of over 2400 kilometres, Thailand receives the largest number of migrant workers from Myanmar with the promise of higher salaries and job opportunities. Over the last few decades Thailand’s economy has boomed becoming a manufacturing and production powerhouse in Southeast Asia. But with not enough Thai workers to meet its demand, according to the Mekong Migration Network, in 2021 over 4 million migrant workers came to work in Thailand from other countries in Southeast Asia and according to a study by Mahidol University in Bangkok in 2020 over 80% of those came from Myanmar.
To improve their lives, for decades people from Myanmar have left in huge numbers to seek work in neighbouring countries, sending large portions of their wages back home every year to support relatives still inside the country. Data compiled by the International Labour Organization (ILO) suggests that the output of migrant workers accounts for over 6 percent of Myanmar’s total gross domestic product (GDP).
With a land border of over 2400 kilometres, Thailand receives the largest number of migrant workers from Myanmar with the promise of higher salaries and job opportunities. Over the last few decades Thailand’s economy has boomed becoming a manufacturing and production powerhouse in Southeast Asia. But with not enough Thai workers to meet its demand, according to the Mekong Migration Network, in 2021 over 4 million migrant workers came to work in Thailand from other countries in Southeast Asia and according to a study by Mahidol University in Bangkok in 2020 over 80% of those came from Myanmar.
Improved systems means many cross legally with official paperwork but many cross illegally, brought over by smugglers for a sizeable fee. Once on the Thai side of the border life can be hard with labour rights abuses and harassment frequently reported.
Various sectors employ the vast majority, namely the fishing industry, agriculture and construction. Often living in isolated communities their existence in Thailand can be invisible to the average person. Whether living in makeshift corrugated iron houses or in remote small wooden one-room houses in the middle of a plantation, they often live on the fringes of society.
This photo-story commissioned by Winrock International and with additional photographs from an assignment with The New York Times, offers an insight into the lives of Myanmar’s migrant workers in Thailand in the places where they live and work, showing the hard reality for many. Most would return to Myanmar immediately if the situation improves, but most have come to terms with the fact that that is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
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