Decline in remittances by Thais working abroad: the hit to GDP and employment
By Jon Fernquest
The global
economic downturn
this year has led to rising unemployment all over the world. Many governments have created new regulations this year to reduce the numbers of foreign workers (migrant workers) working in their country in order to free up these jobs for the domestic workforce.
It is not certain that the domestic workforce will actually take up these jobs as planned.
The decline in remittances that migrant workers send home to their families is also a reduction in an important form of foreign aid for developing countries.
Remittances are more reliable than volatile inflows of investment capital from foreign bank loans and money invested in the stock market, especially in a declining world economy (Read Economist article and previous article and this week's Bangkok Post article).
(Photo to the right is of migrant workers renewing their work visas in Hong Kong)
global - ทั้งโลก
all over the world, including the whole world
downturn - ระยะตกต่ำ going down
economic downturn - ระยะตกต่ำ เศรษฐกิจ going down to a worse condition
unemployment - การตกงาน the number of people in a region or country who are available for work and currently seeking work (workforce) but are without work (See Wikipedia)
unemployment rate - อัตรา การตกงาน the percentage of the work force without work
migrant workers - คนงานต่างถิ่น any worker working outside of their home country (See Wikipedia)
other place - ต่างถิ่น
migrate - ย้ายถิ่น move to another place for work or to live
free up jobs - ทำให้ ตำแหน่ง ว่าง make jobs available
domestic - ในประเทศ within the country
workforce - แรงงาน all the people in an area or country available for work, all the people who work for a company
domestic workforce - แรงงาน ในประเทศ all the people within the country who are available for work
take up Y - become interested in Y and start doing Y
remittance, remittance of money - เงินที่ส่งไป money sent back to their country by workers working in foreign countries
foreign aid, aid, international aid - เงินช่วยเหลือ ระหว่างประเทศ money or food sent to help developing countries (See Wikipedia)
international - ระหว่างประเทศ between countries
aid - เงินช่วยเหลือ help or assistance given to someone
reliable - ที่เชื่อถือได้ when you can trust something to work well and do what you expect
volatile - ที่เปลี่ยนแปลงได้ง่าย
renew - ต่อ extend the period that something is valid and can be used (when it is about to expire and end)
renew visa - ต่อวีซ่า extend the period for your visa, so you can stay in the country longer
expired - หมดอายุ something official has come to an end, is no longer valid
expired visa - วีซ่าหมดอายุ visa has come to an end, can no longer legally stay in country
downturn - ระยะตกต่ำ going down
economic downturn - ระยะตกต่ำ เศรษฐกิจ going down to a worse condition
unemployment - การตกงาน the number of people in a region or country who are available for work and currently seeking work (workforce) but are without work (See Wikipedia)
unemployment rate - อัตรา การตกงาน the percentage of the work force without work
migrant workers - คนงานต่างถิ่น any worker working outside of their home country (See Wikipedia)
other place - ต่างถิ่น
migrate - ย้ายถิ่น move to another place for work or to live
free up jobs - ทำให้ ตำแหน่ง ว่าง make jobs available
domestic - ในประเทศ within the country
workforce - แรงงาน all the people in an area or country available for work, all the people who work for a company
domestic workforce - แรงงาน ในประเทศ all the people within the country who are available for work
take up Y - become interested in Y and start doing Y
remittance, remittance of money - เงินที่ส่งไป money sent back to their country by workers working in foreign countries
foreign aid, aid, international aid - เงินช่วยเหลือ ระหว่างประเทศ money or food sent to help developing countries (See Wikipedia)
international - ระหว่างประเทศ between countries
aid - เงินช่วยเหลือ help or assistance given to someone
reliable - ที่เชื่อถือได้ when you can trust something to work well and do what you expect
volatile - ที่เปลี่ยนแปลงได้ง่าย
renew - ต่อ extend the period that something is valid and can be used (when it is about to expire and end)
renew visa - ต่อวีซ่า extend the period for your visa, so you can stay in the country longer
expired - หมดอายุ something official has come to an end, is no longer valid
expired visa - วีซ่าหมดอายุ visa has come to an end, can no longer legally stay in country
Impact on unemployment
Three major destinations for migrant workers have been investigated in a recent study by the Kasikorn Research Center: Taiwan, Korea and Singapore. The economies of these three countries are forecast to contract by an average of 4.3% this year.About 200,000 Thai labourers might be forced to quit jobs and return home, bumping the unemployment rate up by 0.3 percentage points from 1.4%, or 540,000 jobless people at the end of 2008.
With layoffs and recent graduates entering the workforce for the first time who can't find work, Thailand's unemployment rate could reach 4.5% to 5.9% at the end of this year, higher than the 4.4% rate during the crisis in 1998.
destination - ปลายทาง
the place that someone is going to
forecast - คาดการณ์ stating what you believe will happen in the future
contract - หด shrink, grow smaller
bump up - ขึ้น increase
layoffs - การเลิกจ้าง when an employee loses their job because the company is not doing well (Source: Thai101 word of the day)
fire - ไล่ออก(จากงาน) terminate or end employment
be fired, get fired - ถูกไล่ออก(จากงาน) when an employee loses a job because of something they did wrong
quit, resign (from job) - ลาออก(จากงาน) when an employee chooses to leave their job
take time off, take a leave of absence - ลาหยุด(จากงาน) when an employee chooses not to work for a period of time (For more see Thai101 word of the day)
forecast - คาดการณ์ stating what you believe will happen in the future
contract - หด shrink, grow smaller
bump up - ขึ้น increase
layoffs - การเลิกจ้าง when an employee loses their job because the company is not doing well (Source: Thai101 word of the day)
fire - ไล่ออก(จากงาน) terminate or end employment
be fired, get fired - ถูกไล่ออก(จากงาน) when an employee loses a job because of something they did wrong
quit, resign (from job) - ลาออก(จากงาน) when an employee chooses to leave their job
take time off, take a leave of absence - ลาหยุด(จากงาน) when an employee chooses not to work for a period of time (For more see Thai101 word of the day)
Impact on Thai balance of trade and GDP
Remittances in January fell 14.3% year-on-year to 4.64 billion baht and dropped by 14.5% in February to 4.22 billion.Remittances from Thais abroad this year could plunge by 8.3% to as much as 15.8% from 63 billion baht last year. This is equivalent to losses of 5-10 billion baht, which could trim gross domestic product by 0.06% to 0.11%.
In the past three years, remittances to Thailand contributed up to 32% of the balance of trade in services.
trim - ตัดบาง cut by a small amount
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - ผลิตภัณฑ์มวลรวม (See Wikipedia)
balance of trade - ดุลการค้า exports minus imports, the difference between the monetary value of exports and imports in an economy over a period of time, an important part of the balance of payments (See Wikipedia)
services - บริการต่างๆ things produced in service industries, not a physical good that can be bought, a waitress and a cook in a restaurant provide a service, technically: a sequence of activities that does not result in ownership of the outcome (See Wikipedia on services and the goods and services continuum)
service industry - อุตสาหกรรม บริการ an industry that provides services rather than produce goods (See List)
balance of trade in services - ดุลการค้า ของ บริการต่างๆ services exported minus services imported into the country over a period of time
balance of payments (BOP) - ดุลการชำระเงิน measures the payments that flow between a country andother countries, used to summarize all international economic transactions during the year, determined byexports and imports of goods, services, and financial capital, as well as financial transfers (See Wikipedia)
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - ผลิตภัณฑ์มวลรวม (See Wikipedia)
balance of trade - ดุลการค้า exports minus imports, the difference between the monetary value of exports and imports in an economy over a period of time, an important part of the balance of payments (See Wikipedia)
services - บริการต่างๆ things produced in service industries, not a physical good that can be bought, a waitress and a cook in a restaurant provide a service, technically: a sequence of activities that does not result in ownership of the outcome (See Wikipedia on services and the goods and services continuum)
service industry - อุตสาหกรรม บริการ an industry that provides services rather than produce goods (See List)
balance of trade in services - ดุลการค้า ของ บริการต่างๆ services exported minus services imported into the country over a period of time
balance of payments (BOP) - ดุลการชำระเงิน measures the payments that flow between a country andother countries, used to summarize all international economic transactions during the year, determined byexports and imports of goods, services, and financial capital, as well as financial transfers (See Wikipedia)
(Source: Bangkok Post, business, 18/04/09, Overseas remittances to drop by B10bn, link)
