Thailand: Aging of Workforce in Industrial Sector

According to an article in the English language "The Nation," Thaiand's industrial sector's labour force is aging, adversely affecting productivity. Research conducted by Srawooth Paitoonpong at the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has found changes in the workforce's age, gender and educational make-up between 1991 and 2010. While the industrial-sector labour force has been younger than those in the agricultural and service sectors, Srawooth reports that the number of young workers had plunged from 55% to nearly 21% during that period, while the number of older workers rose to 20% from 12%.

The causes are the Kingdom's lower birth rate and the trend for young people to spend more years in educational institutions.

"The average age of a labourer was 32 in 2010, up from 27 in 2004," said Srawooth.

"The rising proportion of ageing workers has had a negative impact on labour productivity, so training is needed to improve older workers' productivity," he suggested.

Source: The Nation "Ageing workforce hits industrial-sector productivity, says TDRI report" (May 21, 2012)