Migration, work and marrying out

Aree Jampaklay, Mahidol University

By integrating qualitative and quantitative methods, this study demonstrates a relationship between rural-urban migration and marriage pattern through labor market in Thailand. I hypothesize that a migrant’s marriage opportunities are partly formed by the labor market’s milieu. Results from interviewing twenty six migrants working in Bangkok and in the Eastern Seaboard areas as a factory or a construction worker and informants who work closely with migrants indicates that factory workers might have a greater chance than construction workers to mix with people from different regions. Therefore, factory workers seem to have a higher likelihood of marrying out. An event history analysis confirms the qualitative findings and further suggests that only women be affected by type of employment, while men are not. Bringing two approaches in one study potentially helps to better understand effects of migration on marriage market through labor market in which migrants are.