Project Leader	Mizuno Atsuko (Kyushu University, School of Economics)
Collaborators	Fujita Koichi (Aoyama Gakuin University, School of International Politics, Economics and Communication) Nakanishi Yoshihiro (Kyoto University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies) Thanyarat Apiwong (Chiang Mai University, Faculty of Humanities) Ikoma Miki (Tsuda University, Institute of International & Cultural Studies)
Research Project	International Labour Migration from Myanmar to Thailand in the Wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic and Political Upheaval
Countries of Study	Thailand, Myanmar

Outline of Research

This study analyzes various aspects of international labour migration from Myanmar to Thailand in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and political upheaval. Field research will be conducted on migrant employment, industries employing migrants, migrant communities, and ethnic minority organisations, mainly during the period of the principal researcher’s field assignment.

Purpose of Research, Its Significance and Expected Results, etc.

This study will analyze aspects of international labour migration from Myanmar to Thailand in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and Myanmar’s February 2021 political upheaval. Specifically, the study will clarify impacts on migration that can be ascertained from inside Thailand, as follows:

(i) How the migration into Thailand has changed as a result of changes in pandemic policy and Myanmar’s political upheaval.
(ii) How pandemic policy and Myanmar’s political upheaval have changed Thailand’s agriculture, garment, and other industries that are highly dependent on foreign labour.
(iii) How historically-formed migrant communities and networks have functioned and changed in the wake of the pandemic and political upheaval.

These interdisciplinary questions have academic significance in elucidating the structures of interdependence among sending and receiving regions of intra-Asian labour migration. The originality of this study also lies in the timing of the transition from stagnation to reactivation of migration.

The study is expected to shed light on how the pandemic and political upheaval have affected international labour migration from Myanmar to Thailand and how this has changed the migrant and the socio-economic structure of the receiving country. It should be noted that with the convergence of these two “events,” the pull factors in the recipient country have decreased, while push factors in Myanmar have increased, and the re-expansion of international labour migration is expected to continue. This study will provide basic research on labour migration from Myanmar, where outflows are expected to expand.