@inproceedings{PAR00007412,
  title = {{L}abour flexibility and productivity : an inquiry into the {T}hai labour regime ?},
  author = {{J}etin, {B}runo},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{K}nowledge is presented as the new driving force of competitiveness. {I}t is usually defined as including formal innovation such as {R}&{D} and all forms of learning opportunities occurring during economic activities like work and relations with suppliers and customers. {O}ur communication will focus on knowledge, labour markets and work in the context of {T}hailand. {T}hailand is an interesting case because it is representative of second-tier high-growth {A}sian economies, and most of all, because it is a full-employment economy. {T}his means that if workers are not satisfied with their job, they can easily change their employer. {I}f the company wants to retain them, they have to offer something in exchange: higher wages, bonus, and welfare allowances. {T}his has consequences for the diffusion of knowledge. {W}hen workers' mobility is high and employment tenure low, workers are the conduits through which knowledge is transferred across firms, leading to possible increases in productivity. {W}hen firms prefer to create an internal labour market in order to retain their workers and accumulate knowledge internally, the diffusion of knowledge relies on linkages between firms and their customers. {O}ur objective is to assess the viability of these scenarios in {T}hailand. {W}e start with a short analysis of the state of science, technology and education in {T}hailand (section 1). {T}he conclusion is that formal knowledge is lagging behind and that improvements will take time. {T}he diffusion of knowledge through workers' mobility does not seem viable at this stage and the accumulation of knowledge in internal labour market is a better option. {B}ecause internal labour markets involve high employment tenure, we then turn to the analysis of mobility and employment tenure (section 2). {T}he objective is to see if there is any tendency towards the strengthening of internal labour markets. {W}e use an in-depth field survey realised by the {C}entre for {E}ducation and {L}abour {S}tudies ({C}hiang {M}ai {U}niversity, {T}hailand). {T}his is the first nation-wide survey on these topics. {A} questionnaire has been applied to interview 1543 industrial workers, staff employees and engineers in 85 private and state companies and to 1567 self-employed and 454 employees of the informal sector. {D}ata on education, workers mobility, employment tenure, wages, bonuses and welfare have been collected and are analysed in the paper. {T}he results show that several elements characteristics of internal labour markets are present in big companies with higher than average technological intensity. {I}nternational comparisons show that average employment tenure in {T}hailand is intermediate, inferior to the {E}uropean and {J}apanese levels but close to the {US} level, and much higher than in {L}atin {A}merican countries. {W}e conclude that {T}hailand has the potential to improve its competitiveness by upgrading the level and the quality of education and by strengthening internal labour markets. {C}ompetitiveness could be based on the accumulation of knowledge w},
  keywords = {{T}hailand ; {L}abour {F}lexibility ; {I}nternal {L}abour {M}arket ; {E}mployment ; {T}enure ; {THAILANDE}},
  numero = {},
  pages = {30  multigr.},
  booktitle = {},
  year = {2007},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/{PAR}00007412},
}