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Original article
DOI: 10.17323/1999-5431-2023-0-5-91-110
THE MODEL OF FACTORS AFFECTING WORKERS' QUALITY OF WORKING LIFE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN THAI AND MIGRANT WORKERS
Duangruthai Sangthong1, Waruesporn Natrujirote2
1 2 Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University, Graduate Studies Building, Phuttamonthon 4 Road, Salaya, Nakhon Pathom 73170 Thailand.
1 Doctor of Public Administration (Public Policy and Public Management), Mahidol University; kw_fahsai@hotmail.com (Corresponding author); ORCID: 0000-0003-3769-0677
2 Ph.D. (in Sociology), Assistant Professor, Lecturer of Public Policy and Public Management, waruesporn@gmail.com; ORCID: 0009-0007-5268-7245
Abstract. The aim of this research was to study the factors that affected the quality of working life of Thai and migrant workers and how labour public management affected the quality of working life. This study employed a mixed-methods research design which consisted of qualitative and quantitative methodology. The first phase was qualitative research, in-depth interviews and the focus group interviews were conducted with Thai and Burmese workers. The data obtained in the first phase was analyzed using content analysis. The second phase was quantitative research in which questionnaires were collected from 400 participants. The data obtained in this phase were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis to describe the factors that affected the quality of working life of Thai and Burmese migrant workers. The results showed that the factors affecting the quality of life of both Thai and migrant workers are the following: 1) government policies such as public health, economic aspects, and education can improve the well-being of the workers; 2) the quality of working life can be improved through the support of the government labour administration; it can provide labour protections and welfares following the international labour law and diversity within the workplace according to the human rights principles; 3) government officials' attitudes toward migrant workers discriminate against them. These findings can be used as the guidelines to develop Thai and migrant workers' management. The results can be practical knowledge to support the performance of government agencies in the future.
Keywords: Thai workers, migrant workers, labour public management and quality of working life.
For citation: Duangruthai Sangthong and Waruesporn Natrujirote (2023) 'The model of factors affecting workers' quality of working life: A comparative study between Thai and migrant workers', Public Administration Issue, 5 (Special Issue I, electronic edition), pp. 91-110 (in English). DOI: 10.17323/1999-5431-2023-0-5-91-110.
JEL Classification: I31; J68; J78; J88.
1. Introduction
Because of the influx of migrant workers to Thailand, the public sector has played an important role in labor management, policies, and measures to address the problems of migrant workers However, for the working mechanisms of the public sector, there are usually three steps: 1) registration to allow illegal migrant workers to stay temporarily in Thailand, 2) adjustment of the status of registered migrant workers as legal migrants, 3) import of legal migrant workers from the source country. It could be said that these measures are precautionary without the integration of the public sector's labor management mission and long-term planning. The recent solutions have all been short-term policy planning, regardless of integration between the public, private, and labor sectors, especially the revision of labor import controls. This affected the protection of labor rights and welfare. Such failed labor management also led to human rights violations, human trafficking, crime, and many other social problems. It can be seen that the number of migrant workers working in Thailand from 2013 to 2019 demonstrated a steadily increasing trend shown in Figure 1.
4 000 000 3 000 000 2 000 000 1 000 000
Il II II II II II I»
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
i Classification Total Classification General Classification Import from MOU i Classification Minority Classification Allowed by cabinet resolution
Classification Lifelong i Classification Proof of Nationality Classification BOI
i Classification Seasonal entry and leave
Figure 1: Number of Migrant Workers in 2013-2019.
Source: Office of Foreign Workers Administration, 2021
Figure 1 depicts the importation of migrant workers through various channels, with a continuously increasing trend. The annual influx of migrant workers has been necessary for the Thai economy as the labor groups that drive the Thai
economy are not only formal and informal workers but also migrant workers who have a positive effect on the overall economy by contributing to the increase in the gross domestic product (GDP) of Thailand. This can be seen from the number of migrant workers classified by type of business in 2018 shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Number of Migrant Workers by Type of Businesses in 2018.
Source: Office of Foreign Workers Administration, 2019.
Figure 2 shows that migrant workers from the three countries work in different sectors. The share of migrant workers in industry is 37.3%, followed by the construction sector with 17.2% and the trade sector with 14.5%,. However, the problem of migrant workers affected not only economic figures, but also social and cultural problems. Therefore, policy challenges were important for Thailand both in terms of wages and the geographical factor, which is the presence of underdeveloped countries with weak economies such as Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. This gave Thailand access to cheap labour and facilitated the transition to a manufacturing advantage.
A comparative study between Thai workers and migrant workers who come to work in Thailand from Myanmar, for example, shows that welfare and labour protection provide a framework that helps to promote a good quality of working life for workers. Moreover, there are other issues affecting the quality of working life of migrant workers, such as living in society, using government services and acceptance by people in Thai society. These are still the main problems arising from stereotypes, attitudes and different values. Discrimination or poor services from government officials inevitably affect migrant workers' feelings when it comes to improving their working conditions. Those who are involved in performing work or directly interact with migrant workers are also in a position to see the problems in policy implementation.
2. Theory and literature review
2.1 Public Policy Implementation
The study of the implementation of public policy is of great importance. It can be said that implementing the policy is an administrative process that helps a group of people with responsibility for a policy to achieve its objectives. Therefore, the policies that will be implemented must be clear to build understanding between policymakers and those implementing the policy. Also, policymakers need to know about the agency's readiness to implement the policy (Pressman and Widavsky, 1976) Public policy implementation theory can be divided into three categories: 1) Top-down theories of implementation; 2) Bottom-up theories of implementation; and 3) Mixed theories of implementation. This study aims to introduce the Bottom-up theories of implementation.
Bottom-up theories of implementation place an emphasis on the spatial practitioner as a service provider and see implementation as a negotiation process that occurs within a network of policy makers. Regarding his major study on "Street-Level Bureaucrats", Lipsky (2007) stated that, in terms of the efficiency of a service, sometimes the policies and project design meet the needs of practitioners, including government officials or people who have been involved in them. To understand the reality and behaviour, this must be developed from the ground up through the learning process. As a result, lower-level sectors and basic government officials are also critical to achieve effective or successful practices.
The theory can be used as a guideline to analyze the labor-management problems of the government in Thailand since most policy implementations are executed as the top-down approach based on the needs of the leader group. This does not reflect the needs of the people. Therefore, the analysis of the bottom-up theory will lead to the understanding of the problems \ from the people's perspective or those involved directly in the problems. This can solve the problems and promote the development.
2.2 Public Service Improvement
The study on the concept of public service improvement can provide a more concrete understanding through the implementation. According to the article on "Street-Level Bureaucracy: The Critical Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats", Lip-sky (2007) demonstrated the government's efforts to improve public service in the context of American society and describes a group of people who have jobs or are employees in the public sector.
These groups of people are all contributing to the creation or production of the state's policies. The state should have a direction in which to create a benefit or a legitimate penalty. Because most citizens are unable to contact or make direct complaints to the state, they frequently do so through a letter or a complaint to Parliament. Another important thing that can be reflected in the policy is the different groups of representatives directly affecting the policy, such as teachers, policemen, lawyers, public health officials, etc., also known as Street Bureaucrats. These people are close to service customers who can reach and interact with citizens in normal life. So, they are aware of the problem directly.
The perception of life makes these groups representatives of influential people who affect implementation.
As for Thailand, a study of concepts for the development of government services pointed out that public policies attempted to improve the management of migrant workers, such as the one-stop service to offer an easily-accessed registration system and services. This includes leniency measures and rights and welfare for migrant workers.
However, guidelines in the government's labour management are still complicated for multi-sector organizations, the private and civil society sectors. Also, operators, brokers, labour officers, police officers, and foundations of civil society networks participate in promoting or opposing the implementation of the government policies, such as the consideration of workers' human rights by NGOs, trying to claim the rights of workers' descendants working in Thai society while the government still has to care of Thai citizens. Thus, the government's labour administration becomes a great challenge due to variables in the many sectors involved. The government's services must respond to the demand for Thai and migrant workers, play an important role in economic development and live in society with high standard of living.
2.3 Quality of Working Life
The study on the quality of Thai workers and migrant workers was based on Richard E. Walton's Criteria for Quality of Working Life. Walton (1975) conducted a study of the quality of working life by taking into account the characteristics of individuals in terms of quality of life, with a focus on a humanistic approach to studying the personal environment and society that contribute to work success. To meet the needs at work, the following factors affecting the quality of working life must be considered:
Richard E. Walton's concept on workers' quality of working life
f Fair and appropriate compensation i > ï Work conditions r Use and development of capacities ». > Chance of growth and security Social integration in the organization Co nstituti onalism » > Work and the total space of life L ' \ Social relevance of the work in the life >■ >
v_
Figure 3: Richard E. Walton's concept on workers' quality of working life.
1. Fair and adequate compensation: Workers receive fair wages, salaries, compensation and other benefits that are sufficient to live on according to generally accepted standards.
2. Working conditions: Both physical and psychological working conditions must not be too risky and must contribute to workers' well-being and health.
3. Use and development of skills: Workers should have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills to perform tasks that make them feel valued and challenged at work. This includes the opportunity to do work that is considered important and contributes to performance.
4. Opportunity for growth and security: Work should promote the growth and security of workers and help them to increase their knowledge and skills. Work should provide opportunities to advance professionally and gain security, and to be accepted by their colleagues and their family members.
5. Social integration in the organisation: Work should contribute to the social integration of workers. Workers should feel valued and accepted and work together with their colleagues. This promotes a good working environment without discrimination, bias and mutual destruction, including equal opportunities for career progress based on a moral system.
6. Constitutionalism: The way of life and the culture of the organisation promote respect for the rights of the individual and fairness in rewarding, as well as the opportunity to express one's opinion freely and equality under the law.
7. Work and the whole living space: Workers should have the opportunity to balance their work and personal lives. In other words, workers should not be subjected to undue stress in return for reasonable working hours and adequate personal time. There must be a reasonable balance between personal life and work.
8. Social relevance: Work or activities that benefit society by adding value and meaning to their job and increasing pride in their organization. This includes, for example, the fact that the organization is responsible for society in various areas such as productivity, waste management, environmental protection, employment and participation in social campaigns.
In conclusion, the study on the quality of working life, especially the promotion of Thai and migrant workers' quality of working life under the labour management context, focuses on the quality of life that consists of basic needs, such as wages, benefits, working conditions, safety, and labour protection. These are important factors for improving workers' quality of working life in the country. As a result, promoting work quality in the workplace is necessary and important. Work satisfaction affects performance, and it is also an incentive to work. This increases the company's or organization's efficiency and productivity. It can be the achievement of both members of the organization and the organization itself.
2.4. International Labour Standards in Thailand, Trade Unions and Labour Laws: towards a decent work
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is mainly responsible for promoting labour standards that lead to decent work, based on four strategic goals: employment creation, rights to work, social protection, and negotiation. Additionally, there are also goals in line with the United Nations, which are sustainable development and decent work through the Conventions.
According to the study on labour standards and decent work by Suttawet and Bamber (2018), despite the fact that Thailand has already joined the ILO and ratified six of its eight conventions, including those governing labor, the country's political and economic conditions remain unstable. As a result, the law's development and implementation were not successful. Political conflicts affect the management of labour relations or trade unions and support for the implementation of international labour law, which has not yet ratified in 2 conventions (No. 87 and 98).
Due to the fear that the trade unions would have more bargaining power, especially the current military government. The constitution limited the conditions of rights so that they did not interfere with the security, regulations, or political restrictions of the state. The unions had little opportunity for discussion or clarification. Military dictatorship and non-democratic government, therefore, have no tendency towards decent work because it must comprise "rights and social negotiations," but more important are the consequences of the effective creation and development of products.
Therefore, if the public sector can manage labor by promoting valuable work according to the ILO's labor standards, it will boost the competitiveness of the establishment and the country's economic productivity. This also helps to promote and improve the quality of life of workers. These will provide decent work in all sectors of labour. If Thai labour law were addressed under the ILO standard, it could bypass the power of the elite and lead to legal integration under the same standard.
2.5 Human Relations
Human relations concept by Elton Mayo (2003) prioritizes the relationship among workers to enhance productivity in the organization, to encourage open communication between supervisors and subordinates, give people a chance to participate in democratic decision-making, focus on operators at all levels, and take care of them as friends. These would result in increased productivity. Mayo believed that if the human relations concept is employed correctly, the environment in the organization allows all of them to work together in harmony. The two concepts were true as the following details:
1) Workers' behavioural response to the environment consists of two ways, namely the physical environment, including the work environment, the psychological story, and society at work. These environments involve informal groups, acceptance of individuals, and participation in decision-making.
2) People's acts are influenced by selfish reasons. People behave that way due to their emotions, thought, self-satisfaction, and other personal preferences, such as comfort and enjoyment of work regardless of logical reasons.
This indicates that human relations are important at work. Enhancing good human relations through motivation without boundaries to encourage workers is incorrect and does not result in high productivity. Sometimes, employing the suitable control method and discipline to influence people who may be changed in various ways to be in the desired direction, along with motivation, are also necessary. As a result, scholars in the next era attempted to call this approach a behavioural approach to management, which is the study of organizational management in a new method. Therefore, it is called by another name, "New Classical Theory." Behavioural studies suggested that human emotional and physical needs constitute the basis of the organization, which may be caused by the aggregation of humans who have common interests or objectives. This includes considering the behaviours of individuals and groups in the organization. Therefore, this was the beginning of the study of organizations based on behavioural science (Vaishita, 2021).
2.6 Related Research
Most articles involve migrant workers who migrate to seek jobs in other countries. The focus of the studies is on rights and protection in terms of work, risk and safety in the workplace, access to health services, and abuses from employers based on the contexts of western countries and Asian countries. They can be used as a framework for analyzing and understanding the context of migrant workers through the factors and conditions described in the articles based on the literature review. The data can be compared and studied for further development and application in this study. The content of the articles is shown as follows:
Table1
The Summary of Research Related to Migrant Labor Management, Problems, and Impacts on Workers' Quality of Life
„ . T ,, , Factors in Labor No. Authors Issue Method ,, Management
1 Galanis (2013) Access to health services among immigrants in Greece A cross-sectional study - Access to knowledge and public health services - Medical and cultural skills and capabilities - Employers' legal compliance - Legislation to protect vulnerable groups
2 Tam et al. (2017) Access to health care or the provision of public health services for Chinese immigrants in Singapore Qualitative study with interviews from Chinese migrant and staff from Health Serve
3 Gorodzeisky (2017) The study on differences among immigrants regarding employment discrimination and opportunities for success Data from Eurostat and questionnaires used in four case studies and the European Union Labour Forces Survey - Social skills and literacy - Language and communication - Ethnic, religious and cultural values - Welfare state (Tax, free thinking) - Labor skill values - Righteous Rights
4 Helbling and Kriesi (2014) The study on differences in high- and low-skilled immigrants which found high skilled immigrants were likely to get hired Exploratory research by questioning attitudes towards migrant workers' skills
5 Kulkolkarn and Potipiti (2017) A study of the impact of migrant workers on wages and unemployment in Thailand including the impact on policy makers An empirical analysis method with a review of wages and employment - Wages / compensation - Labor intensity - Risk of chemical hazards - Discrimination - Insufficient management of labor database - Stress from social discrimination - Improvement of working patterns to promote the quality of life, such as working hours and holidays
6 Sterud et al. (2018) A systematic review of working conditions and occupational health among immigrants in Europe and Canada Systematic selection of information in various databases
7 Anjara (2017) Stress, health and quality of life of female migrant domestic workers in Singapore A cross-sectional method with 182 female migrant workers in Singapore
„ . T ,, , Factors in Labor No. Authors Issue Method ,, Management
8 Panikkar (2015) Survey of organization and occupational health and workers' safety A qualitative study with an in-depth interview with workers - Labor Protection / labor standards - Employment legislation - Social and economic rights - Human rights - Rules and regulations from the policy - Legal employment conditions - Labor protection network
9 Cortest (2017) Laws and social regulations for the development of human rights with opportunities for migrants to have access to social rights A case study in Argentina with the study on migrants from neighboring countries such as Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru
10 Kraivat (2014) Migrant workers' protection and solutions in Thailand A mixed method of quantitative and qualitative research
11 Nothdurfter and Hermans (2018) Literature review on street-level bureaucracy and the study on the policy implementation Research published during 2005-2015 using Web of Science Citation Indexing and Lipsky's concepts - Staff performance - Interaction towards service for workers - Implementation of the policy - Attitudes towards workers - Labor control management
12 Schweutzer (2017) Impacts and limitations on the management of migrant workers A qualitative study with a semi-structured interview
Sources: Compiled by the authors based on their own calculations (-hereinafter, unless otherwise noted)
From the literature review on concepts, theories, and related research from domestic and foreign contexts, the understanding can be achieved through problems, approaches, measures, and factors that are important to the administration of migrant workers based on economic, social, cultural, and political aspects. This also concerns values, attitudes, religious beliefs, and cultural diversity that affect discrimination and limitations of workers' access to services in public health, education, protection, welfare, employment opportunities, and career progress.
3. Research Methodology
This study employed mixed method approach in data collection and analysis that include both qualitative and quantitative methodologies through books, academic articles, research articles, media analysis, and information on both domestic and international websites.
3.1 Qualitative Methodology
The research instrument in this study was "the interview." The questions were obtained from the problems of preliminary analysis and synthesis through research papers with the following steps:
In-depth interview: For inclusion criteria, the main participants involved in policymaking from the government sector, and a representative who is related to policy's implementation from each public and private sector included five people in total as follows: 1) a participant from the human resources department; 2) a supervisor; 3) a welfare department officer; 4) a staff of the Department of Em-
ployment; and 5) a hospital staff. Purposive sampling was used according to the research objective, which requires people with expertise and direct experience. The researcher chose policymakers and policy implementers from the central policy level who were related to policy implementation at the provincial level. Participants from the public sector included academics and labour inspectors, who represent the Ministry of Labor under the Department of Employment and the Welfare Department and implement the policy and directly interact with workers, hospital staff, the head of quality control, and HR staff in Samutsakhon Province.
Focus group interviews: Thai and Myanmar workers were chosen since they have the greatest number of migrant workers and have the greatest impact on the socioeconomic situation. The interview is divided into 4 groups: 2 groups of Thai workers and 2 groups of Myanmar workers. Each group consisted of nine people as the key informants, along with an "interpreter," or one person who could communicate with them during the interview.
Qualitative analysis included data analysis and synthesis to summarize the research results obtained from the focus group interview's papers and observations through in-depth interviews. This includes the study of the government's labour policies in the past and a comparison of Thai and Myanmar workers' quality of working life that define an objective data analysis, a conceptual framework, and the analysis of descriptive data. The data were analyzed into problems. The main points based on the conceptual framework were summarized.
3.2 Quantitative Methodology
Quantitative methodology was employed through exploratory factor analysis. The data were collected from factors and related variables through interviews from Thai and Myanmar workers to determine factors affecting the quality of working life and services.
The exploratory factor analysis was conducted to compare differences between Thai and Myanmar workers in terms of factors affecting the quality of working life since it was not confirmed whether factors were relevant to this problem, and those two groups of workers are considered to be a large population in Samutsakhon. Therefore, those two groups were included to find the sample group used in a factor comparison analysis, totaling 970,936 workers.
The number of Thai and migrant workers was calculated to find the sample group by Taro Yamane's formula (Yamane, 1973). The calculation of the sample size is shown as follows:
Formula n = N
1 + N€2
When N = Number of the population used for the study n = Number of the sample group e = Acceptable errors = 0.05
Substitute n =
1 + (970,936)(0.05)2 n = 399.83 « 400
The sampling would be effective by using probability sampling to determine the likelihood that each sample unit was chosen. Since the sampling method was done by dividing the population by area and sampling was done based on the required areas, this gives the probability that each unit in the population will be selected by the cluster sampling method. All units of the population in that area were also studied (Kanjanawasee, Srisuko, and Pitayanon, 1992). According to 400 people from the sample, the population is distributed in the following proportions based on each area:
1) After 400 samples were obtained, the data were divided into 2 clusters: 200 Thai workers and 200 Myanmar workers for comparison. According to the factor analysis theory, 200 people are acceptable (MacCallu et al., 1999), and there is research using cluster sampling with an equal number of samples without weighting (Kane et al., 2018).
2) The questionnaires were distributed with a reference method according to the proportion of the population in each district. Then, the number of questionnaires was calculated.
3) The number of workers used for reference in the 2017 database was calculated from the database of civil registration (Thai workers) and migrant worker data in each community of the three districts. In the study, the questionnaire was used as a research instrument for data collection. Questions and problems were obtained through conceptual frameworks, theories, and related research papers. The questionnaires are divided into two parts:
1) Participants' general information includes gender, nationality, age, status, and type of business.
2) Questionnaire on factors affecting Thai and Myanmar workers' quality of working life.
Moreover, "the questionnaire" was translated into Myanmar. Therefore, Myanmar workers could complete the questionnaire and write to clarify the problems. After that, the answers were translated into Thai for the analysis. The questionnaire is divided into 2 parts as follows:
1) Part 1: Participants' general information is conducted as a check list, consisting of 5 questions regarding demographic factors as follows: gender, nationality, age, status, and type of business. It includes agriculture and livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, plastics production, services, construction materials, and others.
2) Part 2: Factors affecting Thai and Myanmar workers' quality of working life the questions are conducted as a rating scale. A 5-scale assessment was used based on the criteria for the interpretation of Best and Kahns method (Kahn, 1989). As for quantitative analysis of factors affecting Thai and Myanmar workers'
quality of working life, the data were analyzed to find factors related to workers' quality of working life by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to find the relationship of factors with exploratory factor analysis.
4. Results and Discussion
4.1 Qualitative Methodology Results
Participants included people who are directly involved with Thai and migrant workers in Thailand. The results are summarized as follows:
1) Laws and Public Policies
Strategic planning and operations are based on national security policy formulation. Therefore, policymakers strictly formulated policies, laws, and regulations related to migrant workers. Additionally, the concept of national security includes other dimensions, such as the economy, public health, etc. Such a problem is raised by Thailand's membership in the ILO and its ratification of only six out of eight conventions, which have not yet been ratified due to national security and a fear that the trade unions may have more bargaining power. According to Thai politics under the military government, opportunities for social expression or negotiation are extremely limited due to significant limitations, such as "rights and social negotiations," which are promising components of decent work. This can create value for workers through support and promotion in cooperative management which leads to the improvement of the quality of working life.
However, the standards for measuring a good quality of working life include opportunities for potential development to achieve progress and stability in a working life, social acceptance, equality, and rights. These indicate a good standard of a working life and serve as a driving force for work potential. For Thai society, due to the administration of the public sector under national security, opportunities or a forum for negotiation became a limitation. So, it is necessary to promote and support collaborative management that facilitates workers to negotiate to enhance the development of a good quality of life and lead to the development of various products.
2) Perspectives and Attitudes towards Migrant Workers
According to national security, most Thai people thought that migrant workers stole jobs from them. In the past, migrant workers came to work to replace Thai workers in some jobs that Thai people did not prefer to do. However, when some migrant workers had the potential, they turned themselves into business in the community. Therefore, Thais expressed negative attitudes towards migrant workers. Social problems, including illegal drugs, fights, and crimes, were seen to affect national security and insecurity in the lives and property of Thai people. There are also problems in values and behaviour since Myanmar people would like to chew and split betel palms (Chalamwong et al., 2018).
On the other hand, some Thai people in society expressed positive attitudes towards migrant workers as they worked or participated in activities together with migrant workers. Thai people experienced the way of life of migrant workers closely, especially their religious beliefs. Working together requires communication and interaction. This results in empathy. They share advice for both work and social life. These things influenced the attitude and behaviour of Thai people in a good way. If the government tries to solve the migrant worker problem through the management of migrant workers to allow them to work legally, it will lead to improved relationship between migrant workers and Thais.
Acceptance from a coworker, a supervisor, or members of society is a factor that reinforces migrant workers' quality of life in social integration (Walton, 1975). As human beings with feelings who are not working as machines, the absence of discrimination and bias reinforces migrant workers' quality of life based on morality.
3) Public Administration
3.1. Service provisions by officers to migrant workers require precise communication to create accurate perception and understanding, including facial expressions, gestures, and speech that affect the feelings and perceptions of migrant workers. Controlling the emotions of officers and good behaviour in service are part of the code of ethics in the service. In addition, officers' operations should be based on the legitimacy of human rights to truly implement and protect vulnerable groups.
3.2. Budget allocation is one of the government's labor administrations. It was found that the public sector did not have enough interpreters for both spoken and written languages. Some documents are required to be translated for migrant workers or services, especially in public health. Adequate personnel is also necessary to provide prompt and timely treatment.
3.3. Regarding the import of migrant workers, although, in the past, the import system has been continuously modified according to public policies, various complexity was found in terms of documents with high expenses and long processing times, adjusting systems, or mechanisms for importing migrant workers by various means in both strict and flexible ways. Ultimately, the workload of the document or process still depends on personnel. If more modern information systems are adopted, it will possibly reduce the document process with convenience and speed.
4.2 Quantitative Methodology Results
The analysis results from the questionnaire obtained from a group of 400 workers working in Samut Sakhon consisted of general information about Thai and Myanmar workers, mean (x ), and factors influencing Thai and Myanmar workers' quality of life.
Part 1: Participants' General Information Summarized by Percentage and Mean
1) Gender 123 Female Thai workers 68.5%
125 Male Myanmar workers 62.5%
2) Age 80 Thai workers aged 41-50 years old 40%
124 Myanmar workers aged 20-30 years old 62%
3) Status 102 Unmarried Thai workers 51%
120 Married Myanmar workers 60%
4) Children 116 Thai workers having no children 58%
136 Myanmar workers having no children 68%
5) Business 118 Thai workers working in fisheries 59%
83 Myanmar workers working in fisheries 41.5%
6) Residence 146 Thai workers living in Mahachai 73%
146 Myanmar workers living in Mahachai 73%
Overall, most Thai workers were females, aged 41-50 years old, while most Myanmar workers were males, aged 20-30 years old. Most of them worked in fisheries and processed aquatic animals since there is a variety of fresh seafood and processed seafood. Therefore, there are many establishments that run this type of business, including those that process frozen products for export, which require unskilled workers. Therefore, Myanmar and migrant workers are a good choice for many establishments, according to a basic information survey, which discovered that Mahachai has a large number of migrant workers (Myanmar workers) who come to work in Samut Sakhon.
According to the mean (x) obtained in each item, the questions about factors affecting Thai and Myanmar workers' quality of life found that Thai workers' opinions were mostly at a "moderate" and "high" level, while the overall mean of Myanmar workers' opinions was at a "moderate" and "low" level. It indicates that the experiences received by Myanmar workers as a factor supporting quality of life were less than Thai workers, especially the mean in "public services" about the service behaviour of the officers, equal treatment in services, coordination in documents, and clear and easy communication. A "low" mean on the problem reflects that the performance of the officers affected the workers' quality of working life.
If the language communication in the document or service was unclear, it would lead to errors in work or exploitation. Operational behaviour of officers, such as hospital staff, police officers, and government officials, may indicate inequality in service and coordination with the public sector since such behaviour still differs between Thai and Myanmar workers. Another factor that was found to be on a "low" level was "work" in progress as the work of migrant workers did not require a high level of skills. So, the chance of being promoted or adjusted to a higher position requires a long period of employment and learning experience (Appendix A).
Part 2: Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) (Appendix B)
Figure 4: EFA:
Model of Thai Workers' Factors
Figure 5: EFA:
Model of Myanmar Workers' Factors
The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was utilized to analyze the relationships between Thai and migrant workers. The KMO value obtained from the analysis was greater than 0.50. Thai workers are equal to 0.90, while Myanmar workers are equal to 0.83.
After that, factors that can be used for Thai workers include 6 factors, while those for Myanmar workers include 7 factors. Based on the results from the EFA, since the names in each group were determined and ordered by a priority obtained from the analysis, the details can be summarized as follows:
The Meaning of Each Group:
Group 1: Operation refers to operations and services provided to both public and private sector workers. Operations would reflect the behaviour of the officers towards workers, including communication that will facilitate workers to understand or have satisfaction with the service provided by the officers.
Group 2: Legality refers to legal rights, including legal protection as a guarantee of workers' quality of life in the workplace to ensure stability and equality.
Group 3: Appropriation refers to the appropriateness of distribution to achieve a standard of working life for workers that must be safe, stable, progressive, and, happy. This includes individuals and the working environment to improve workers' quality of life.
Group 4: Unique refers to the ability to get along with others regardless of nationality, culture, or lifestyle. When working together, they can adapt to and learn about working and social lives together, as well as exchange of experiences, sorrows, happiness, and advice with supervisors and colleagues.
Group 5: Balance refers to the salary received from work that is enough to sustain life and support a family, as well as a balance between work and family time.
Group 6: Requirement refers to workers' needs or demands for opportunities in welfare rights, a need for children to have access to education, and assistance from relevant agencies when they have problems.
Group 7: Same refers to equal or fair treatment for both Thai and Myanmar workers. Services or enforcement should be under the framework of legal regulations to ensure equality.
5. Discussion of Research Results
The results of the study revealed that the key conditions and limitations of the government's labor administration affecting migrant workers' quality of life are described as follows:
1) Laws and Public Policies: According to Thai politics under the military government, opportunities for social expression or negotiation are extremely limited due to significant limitations, such as "rights and social negotiations," which are promising components of decent work. This can create value for workers with support and promotion in cooperative management which leads to the improvement of the quality of working life. For Thai society, due to the administration of the public sector under national security, opportunities or a forum for negotiation became a limitation. So, it is necessary to promote and support collaborative management that facilitates workers to negotiate to enhance the development
of a good quality of life and lead to the development of various products (Suttawet and Bamber, 2018).
2) Perspectives and Attitudes Towards Migrant Workers: According to the concept of national security, most Thai people thought that migrant workers stole job opportunities from Thai workers. On the other hand, some Thais expressed positive attitudes toward migrant workers since they worked or participated in activities with migrant workers. Therefore, Thai people could see the way of life of migrant workers closely, especially their religious beliefs. Acceptance from a coworker, a supervisor, or members of society is a factor that reinforces migrant workers' quality of life during social integration (Walton, 1975).
3) Public Administration: Service provisions by officers to migrant workers require precise communication to create accurate perception and understanding, including facial expressions, gestures, and speech that affect the feelings and perceptions of migrant workers. Controlling the emotions of officers and good behaviour in service are part of the code of ethics in the service. Moreover, budget allocation is one of the government's labor administrations. It was found that the public sector did not have enough interpreters in both spoken and written languages. Some documents are required to be translated for migrant workers or services. In terms of quantitative methodology, the exploratory factor analysis was conducted by collecting questionnaires from Thai and Myanmar workers. Questions are factors extracted from the research, a literature review, information from in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions to study factors affecting Thai and Myanmar workers' quality of working life. The results are discussed as follows:
A quantitative methodology was conducted by using the questionnaire on factors affecting Thai and Myanmar workers' quality of life. When comparing Thai and Myanmar workers' opinions based on their experiences, the mean was different in two areas: "public services" and "work." Public services are related to communication, speech, and service provisions with appropriate gestures without disgust. The research results with a mean at a "low" level reflected problems in public services. This is consistent with a study on public health service knowledge and utilization among immigrants in Greece: a cross-sectional study (Galanis, 2013) on the education and use of public health services by immigrant workers in Greece. Problems with communication and the treatment process led to policies or measures to solve the problems so that immigrants could successfully access health care. According to the aforementioned problems, if the government can solve language and communication problems, migrant workers will be able to access information and services understandably, which can reduce the risk that will lead to problems of being exploited or deceived. Moreover, a study on health is my capital: a qualitative study of access to healthcare by Chinese migrants in Singapore revealed that those migrant workers had access to healthcare providers of their choice without pressure from their employers. The important message from the recommendations in this article suggested that legislation is needed to protect vulnerable groups from accessing health care services (Tam, 2017). There is also an article on "Human Rights of Migrants and Their Families in Argentina as Evidence for Development of Human Rights In-
dicators: A Case Study," demonstrating the importance of accesses to social and economic rights, social security, health services, and educational opportunities by changing rules to be more flexible and appropriate. Moreover, policy formulation depends on the international cooperation among all stakeholders in both the public and private sectors to successfully drive access to various rights (Cortes, 2017).
Regarding "work," the factors affecting Myanmar workers' quality of life included getting promoted or working in a higher position. Due to context and values in Thai society, these reserve certain types of jobs for Thais only, and highly skilled workers were not necessary. Therefore, migrant workers' opportunity for growth or progress at work seems difficult. The problem is consistent with the findings of a study on "Why Citizens Prefer Highly Skilled over Low-Skilled Immigrants, Labor Market Competition, Welfare State, and Deservingness" (Hel-bling and Kriesi, 2014).
This study determined why the labor market preferred to hire more highly skilled workers rather than low skilled workers. Even if it seems reasonable, in the context of western society as a welfare state, low-skilled migrant workers were granted rights from the government. This is unbalanced with their contributions to tax income, which is contrary to the needs of highly skilled migrant workers. From the point of view of such research, it reflects the distinction between high-skilled and low-skilled workers, including equality in promotion. Besides, the cultural context of each establishment may vary in terms of the period of employment, quality of work, competence, or economic value created by that establishment. As a result, low-skilled workers may have fewer opportunities for advancement than high-skilled workers. Thus, the mean of factors affecting promotion at work was at a "low" level.
6. Recommendations
1) The government's guidelines for the implementation of labour management should focus on enforcing relevant laws and imposing clear penalties for those who violate the law. This must be applied to workers, employers, establishments, and government officials to achieve justice in all sectors and narrow the gap in law enforcement to improve the management of migrant workers as well as compliance with international labour standards because of the vow to join the International Labor Organization. This indicates the intent to protect the rights of migrant workers, especially the ratification of the Convention on Promotion and Support for Cooperation in Management so that workers can hold bargaining power regarding their work. This can create decent work according to labour standards, increase competitiveness, build credibility on the global stage, and enhance migrant workers' quality of life based on international principles under a democratic system.
2) The study on the involvement of partners related to migrant workers in working and social life from the public and private sectors was to create a learning experience on a way of life and the coexistence among Thai people, Thai workers, and migrant workers who must work together. This builds positive atti-
tudes and understandings toward migrant workers. The experimental activity can be studied in the organization or through observation of officers' behaviour toward migrant workers. Thus, policymakers can appropriately design policies that affect various factors and dimensions.
3) The model of benefits and health services should be studied to be suitable for both legal and illegal migrant workers in terms of how each group can access health services and whether access and use of health services should be different from the plan for calculating costs and compensation for health care facilities. Consequently, the government can allocate budget and cost effectiveness to the workers' benefit.
7. Conclusion
The results of the study on "The Model of Factors Affecting Workers' Quality of Working Life: A Comparative Study between Thai and Migrant Workers" discovered that public policies in various areas, such as public health, the economy, national security, and education, inevitably affected the lives of workers in terms of promotion and improvement. Secondly, regarding the quality of working life in terms of opportunities and progress in work, communication and interaction with supervisors and colleagues, and learning and adapting to Thai society, workers who come to work in Thailand legally received rights and welfare based on labour protection and could live and adapt to colleagues. There were religious activities and traditions to foster goodwill, yet opportunities and progress in some areas are still limited in terms of nationality since they are only available to Thai citizens. Lastly, regarding public services, a major problem in service provision was the views and attitudes of Thai people towards migrant workers, which are linked to various problems in terms of benefits or health services, budget and expenses that the government has to manage, cultural differences and dirty appearance, chewing betel palms, and disease transmission among migrant workers, and stealing job opportunities from Thai workers. These problems affected the behaviour and expression of those involved in public services that require direct communication or interaction with migrant workers, such as the preparation of registration and renewal documents that must be clear as well as an understanding of the operation process. Regarding health care services, some officers expressed inappropriate verbal and unfriendly behaviour towards migrant workers, as well as the problem of harassment and violation of rights caused by police officers.
The problem of migrant workers should be managed at its root, which is the legal import system of workers. Problems in the past, such as corruption by government officials in smuggling illegal workers, had not been solved, resulting in long-term illegal labour problems that cannot be managed or controlled. The proposal of the government's labour management guidelines reflected an integrated approach to problem solving in various dimensions, including the economy, society, and security of the country. Therefore, it requires cooperation from all sectors and the decisiveness of the government to implement laws and policies to manage the problem.
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The article was submitted: 17.09.2021; approved after reviewing: 25.11.2021; accepted for publication: 25.03.2023.
