Economic empowerment for women in the informal economy in Thailand

This paper describes the economic situation of women who make up the majority of the labour force in the informal economy in developing countries.In 2007, Thailand’s National Statistic Office reported that a total of 37.1 million workers are employed and that 23.3 million are informal workers, including those working in the agricultural sector. Informal workers make up 62.7 percent of overall workers, compared with 37.3 percent in the formal sector. There has been an increase of seven hundred thousand informal workers between 2005 and 2007. In Thailand, women make up 76.7 women of homeworkers, compared with 23.3 percent men.Women make up the majority of informal workers because jobs are flexible and the skills requirements are low. Uneducated women or women with low levels of education combine work in the informal economy with household work.
(Source:Division for the Advancement of Women Department of Economic and Social Affairs United Nations)

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/ws2009/documents/EC-WSRWD-2008-EP6%20Tulaphan%2026Feb09.pdf