Migrant workers' remittances from Thailand to Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar: Synthesis report on survey findings in three countries and good practices

The report looked at migrants’ earnings and the patterns of remittance sending by nationality, sex, age groups, and the duration of stay in Thailand, the host country. It also explored the channels for sending remittances, the reasons, the associated costs of various sending channels and how the remittances reach the family in the home country. The report highlighted the good practices related to remittances and uses in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Indonesia. In brief, labour migration has tremendously improved the welfare of migrant workers and their families in terms of gaining greater income, more consumption power and improved healthcare and education for their family. However, there is still more rooms for labour-receiving and labour-sending countries to realize the impact of migration and remittances on social and economic development. For a labour-receiving country such as Thailand, promoting and providing the opportunity for migrant workers to access its banking services is a starting point for augmenting the benefits of migration, which might indirectly reduce the need for irregular migration and re-migration. Helping migrant workers become financially literate before their departure abroad would enable them to work in the labour-receiving countries with sound purposes.