Social impact of the economic crisis on vulnerable children in Thailand

Impacts of the economic crisis on Thailand include:

• unemployment rapidly rose in rural areas. For those working in family businesses with less than 30 employees, small shops, or who are self-employed or daily wage earners, there are no entitlements, no severance pay claim, and thus no employment record. Most of the labour in such situations is low skilled, low educated labour, or child labour. Of all the unemployed to date, more than half have migrated home to the northeast
• joblessness, income loss, mounting debts, dim prospects for new employment and uncertainty in relying on the farming sector all add unprecedented stress to family and community
• during the boom times the wealth was unfairly distributed, and in the burst of the bubble the burden for the poor is even heavier
• family belongings and productive assets are being seized by creditors as unemployed families cannot keep up with debt repayments
• finding food from nature has become difficult as more returnees are relying on harvesting food from nature
• the impact of the economic crisis is most strongly manifest in vulnerable groups, children, youth and the elderly
• many grandmothers turn to wage earning in neighbouring farms. Elderly men come to Bangkok temporarily to beg for food and to raise money for farm expenses. In many instances, the elderly struggle back at home without young adult help, since they too have left school in search of employment with their parents
• social costs to children and youth includes the termination of education and increase in child labour, and the acceleration of drug abuse among youth
• aid for community development or social services from international agencies have come to their final stages or are being phased out of Thailand according to schedules drawn up during the boom times
• immigration numbers from Laos increase despite the economic trouble in Thailand

Recommendations:

• surveyors and researchers be given clear definitions and training for collecting statistical information relating to the economic crisis
• to work on an information database on potential /unemployed youth in each province continue; also information on demographics, child labour groups, employment situation, skills training available/providers in each province, potential and constraints of the provinces in employment creation/markets, etc. continue
• needs assessment be conducted to determine skills and training requirements for workers affected by the economic crisis
• training courses or centres be accessible to those in need of the services
• information and publicity designed to assist those affected by the economic crisis be adequately disseminated
• programmes that plan to sensitise NGOs/POs to the situation and mounting negative effect which carries a direct impact on communities and, therefore, NGOs’ and PO’s future work, continue
• situation monitoring at the community level and awareness raising of macroeconomic policies and its links to social impacts continue
• the collection of more information on impacts of the crisis on the vulnerable groups, particularly children, youth and women and migrant workers should continue and appropriate responses be developed to prevent discrimination against them
• skills development programmes, with emphasis on agricultural production skills, for returning youth continue
• more programmes like the Provincial Committees for Rural Youth be established; the committees assess the youth labour supply situation, their current skills, market demand for certain types of skills, training needed/available and funding allocation, correspondingly
• NGOs should pursue strategies in involving government mechanisms to adequately assist children and youth at risk. Specific directions/solid means to deal with child labour problems, target groups/forms of training still need to be mapped out
• child/youth protection and rehabilitation of youth with drug problems should continue. The assistance provided is in detoxification, rehabilitation and vocational training