Reference
·Primary source
Myanmar and Cambodia Migrant Worker Exit from Thai Manufacturing
3.0M-4.0M workers exit 2025-2027
The Thailand Development Research Institute April 2025 policy brief quantifies the Myanmar and Cambodia migrant-worker exit from Thai manufacturing at 3.0 to 4.0 million workers across 2025 to 2027. Drivers are the Myanmar conscription law (in force since April 2024), Cambodia border-closure dynamics and the gradual ASEAN minimum-wage convergence eroding the Thai labour cost advantage. The exit is concentrated in food and beverage, electronics assembly, plastics moulding and labour-intensive automotive parts, which are exactly the segments most amenable to cobot substitution. Roughly 70 percent of TDRI surveyed Thai SME manufacturers cite the migrant exit as the binding catalyst for their first cobot purchase.
Figure in context
The Thailand Development Research Institute April 2025 policy brief quantifies the Myanmar and Cambodia migrant-worker exit from Thai manufacturing at 3.0 to 4.0 million workers across 2025 to 2027. Drivers are the Myanmar conscription law (in force since April 2024), Cambodia border-closure dynamics and the gradual ASEAN minimum-wage convergence eroding the Thai labour cost advantage. The exit is concentrated in food and beverage, electronics assembly, plastics moulding and labour-intensive automotive parts, which are exactly the segments most amenable to cobot substitution. Roughly 70 percent of TDRI surveyed Thai SME manufacturers cite the migrant exit as the binding catalyst for their first cobot purchase.
The Thailand Development Research Institute April 2025 policy brief quantifies the Myanmar and Cambodia migrant-worker exit from Thai manufacturing at 3.0 to 4.0 million workers across 2025 to 2027. Drivers are the Myanmar conscription law (in force since April 2024), Cambodia border-closure dynamics and the gradual ASEAN minimum-wage convergence eroding the Thai labour cost advantage. The exit is concentrated in food and beverage, electronics assembly, plastics moulding and labour-intensive automotive parts, which are exactly the segments most amenable to cobot substitution. Roughly 70 percent of TDRI surveyed Thai SME manufacturers cite the migrant exit as the binding catalyst for their first cobot purchase.
Time scope
FY2025-FY2027 cumulative
Source basis
Primary source
Interpretation notes
What this tells you
The Thailand Development Research Institute April 2025 policy brief quantifies the Myanmar and Cambodia migrant-worker exit from Thai manufacturing at 3.0 to 4.0 million workers across 2025 to 2027. Drivers are the Myanmar conscription law (in force since April 2024), Cambodia border-closure dynamics and the gradual ASEAN minimum-wage convergence eroding the Thai labour cost advantage. The exit is concentrated in food and beverage, electronics assembly, plastics moulding and labour-intensive automotive parts, which are exactly the segments most amenable to cobot substitution. Roughly 70 percent of TDRI surveyed Thai SME manufacturers cite the migrant exit as the binding catalyst for their first cobot purchase.
What not to do with it
Use the linked report for interpretation and keep basis differences explicit.
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