Overcoming employment barriers: strategies for enhancing the socio-economic integration of professional workers from Myanmar in Thailand

The purpose of this study was to learn about the challenges that young Myanmar professional migrants to Thailand face in their personal and professional lives, and how these barriers might be overcome. It focused particularly on the transition difficulties faced by recent university graduates. The employment barriers included Thai language proficiency, cultural adaptation, legal barriers, and discriminatory practices, proposing strategic interventions to aid these young workers in achieving better employment outcomes and socio-economic integration. In this cross-sectional study, an online survey questionnaire was used to collect data from a convenience sample of 350 professional migrants and university students from Myanmar who were living in Thailand. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, percentage distributions, t-tests, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, analysis of variance, and multiple regression. The findings suggested that statistically significant perceived barriers include learning the Thai language (p = .001), a lack of suitable job opportunities (p = .012), and legal barriers (p = .003). They also revealed that learning the Thai language is generally the single most important accomplishment that opens doors to more professional job opportunities. Thai language proficiency improves migrants’ ability communicate with officials, which is helpful in understanding and surmounting legal barriers to employment. This study’s findings provide practical steps that Myanmar professionals may take to facilitate and expedite their integration into Thai socio-economic culture.