Looking back at Move Forward MP’s research into inequality
Move Forward deputy leader and head of its economic team, Sirikanya Tansakun, has been researching inequality in Thailand for well over a decade, with one ground-breaking study published by the Thailand Future Foundation in 2014.
It was titled "Eight facts of Thailand's inequality".
Sirikanya’s research drew intense interest from media outlets. Economic and social inequality was frequently talked about in Thailand at the time, but she found a novel way to present it that made the reality crystal clear, rather than abstract, to Thai readers.
She described Thailand's economy and society over the previous nine years by analysing the status of 22 million households: from the dirt poor to the upper middle class.
The 22 million households were categorised into 10 “villages” of 2.2 million households each, and then ranked in terms of income from the poorest (1st) to the upper middle class (10th).
The research clearly noted that it was under-reporting inequality because each village category had 2.2 million households each, and about 1 trillion baht in income was not accounted for.
Households in village category one had an average monthly income of 4,300 baht. They were rural and about 40% were led by the elderly who received income from the money sent home by their children. One-fourth of households in the village category one were farmers.
Households in the 5th category of villages had an average income of 13,000 baht per month. They were primarily in cities or near industrial estates. About 20% of their members worked as clerks or salespersons, followed by 16% as retailers and factory workers.
The richest category of villages, the 10th, comprised households in housing estates. Their average income was 90,000 baht per month. Workers in about 40% of the households had professional jobs (doctors and engineers, for example), while 12% ran their own businesses.
The eight facts of Thailand's inequality are:
1. Thailand's inequality gap has not narrowed: Exponential economic growth in Thailand had little impact on the country’s massive income gap.
2. The poorest households are not all farmers: The poorest category of villages have a high percentage of households of elderly people who rely on remittances from their children. However, 9% of households in category 10 are farmers. Most live in the South.
3. Almost half of Thai households live on less than 15,000 baht a month: The average income of Thai households was 23,000 baht per month, but only households in the 8th category of villages and above had income of at least 15,000 baht per month.
4. The report underestimated Thailand's inequality: The survey on households in the 9th and 10th categories of villages was incomplete. Income of almost 1 trillion baht was not included.
5. Wealth gap: Villages in category one accounted for 2% of total income, while villages in category 10 accounted for 38%. In terms of bank deposits, village category one accounted for 0.005% of the total, while village category 10 accounted for 93%.
6. Households led by MPs are doing well: All MPs lived in the wealthiest village. The assets of 500 households led by MPs equalled the assets of 2 million households.
7. Service inequality: Children in the village category 10 are the most likely to graduate from university and pass the Programme for International Student Assessment, which makes it easier to study abroad.
8. Focus on inequality in opportunities: Opening opportunities for people to earn higher incomes at least gives them the hope that upward mobility is possible.
