Intersectoral Labor Mobility and Earnings Differentials in Urban Labor Markets: A Case Study of Slum Dwellers in Bangkok (Formal Sector, Informal Sector, Rural-Urban Migration; Thailand)
Siengthai, Sununta
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/71542
Description
Title
Intersectoral Labor Mobility and Earnings Differentials in Urban Labor Markets: A Case Study of Slum Dwellers in Bangkok (Formal Sector, Informal Sector, Rural-Urban Migration; Thailand)
Author(s)
Siengthai, Sununta
Issue Date
1984
Department of Study
Labor and Industrial Relations
Discipline
Labor and Industrial Relations
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Economics, Labor
Abstract
This study investigates the slum dwellers' labor market behavior and the outcomes of the labor market processes in Bangkok. The study assumes the dualistic structure of the labor market in which labor mobility takes place. In less developed countries, rural-urban migration is viewed to contribute to the increase in urban unemployment rates and slum growth. The analytical model of rural-urban migration suggests that rural migrants will be unemployed while looking for employment in the formal sector and after their unsuccessful job search in that sector, will come to terms with the informal sector employment. This model maintains that the probability of rural migrants obtaining employment in the formal sector is a function of the urban unemployment rate. Further, with the limited resources, they are presumed to take shelter in slums and to be absorbed into the urban poor group which is viewed to have its own subculture labeled as "culture of poverty".
Based on the survey sample of the slum dwellers in three areas in Bangkok, the findings of this study refute this postulation of the migrants' job search process. It is found that the majority of the migrant slum dwellers immediately and without difficulty obtain employment in the formal sector when they arrive in the city. Most of them have job prearranged. Further, those who do not get a job immediately do so in a relatively short period of time. The results of probit analysis suggest that education and relatives and friends as the informal sources of job information are significant factors and positively related to the probability of the migrant slum dwellers getting formal sector employment.
Concerning the earnings of these slum dwellers, this study finds that the significant variables explaining variations in their earnings are education, length of service in the formal sector, sex and casual employment status. The determinants of the slum dwellers' earning are found to be similar to what has been found in other empirical studies using the sample taken directly from the enterprise. Together with the descriptive data, the results of regression analysis suggest that the slum dwellers respond to available opportunities. This implies that any changes in the opportunity structures will likely change their economic behavior as well.
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