Internal Migration and Occupational Mobility in Thailand

This study explores the impact of temporary and more permanent internal migration, along with family resources and individual human capital attributes, on upward and downward job transitions of workers in Thailand. Four multinomial logit origin and destination occupational transition models were estimated using the 1992 National Migration Survey of Thailand. Results showed that the increasingly frequent phenomenon of temporary migration was consistently associated with both lower occupational transition rates and downward occupational mobility. More permanent migration was associated with both upward and downward occupational mobility, and migration to Bangkok affected only specific occupational sector transitions.