THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE ELDERLY IN THAI SOCIETY: KNOWLEDGE FROM THE SYNTHESIS OF RESEARCH FROM THAILIS DIGITAL COLLECTION

Abstract

This article aimed to synthesize general characteristics of the research and related knowledge on employment of the elderly in Thai society. Eleven Qualitative research papers published from B.E. 2551 to B.E. 2561 (A.D. 2008-2018) were synthesized. The study revealed that 1. most of the research papers are from Master of Arts in Demography and Population Studies, and they are mainly quantitative research with the application of descriptive statistics: percentage, mean, standard deviation, and inferential statistics including binary logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression. The samples included the elderly people, business sectors, experts, and related documents for instance employment laws from Thailand and other countries. The study on the knowledge on the employment of Thai elderly people revealed that the young-old category aged between 60-69 years wanted to get employed because of their personal, economic, and social reasons. Factors influencing these young-old people’s desire to work included personal, economic, health and support reasons. Factors influencing the employment of the elderly included macro-economy, institutes, organizational cultures, and the elderly themselves. The study on laws related to the employment of the elderly showed that unlike in other countries, in Thailand, there are no measures to protect the employment of the elderly people; moreover, there is no promotion or encouragement in the employment of the elderly. Accordingly, the public sectors need to design measures to protect the employment of the elderly, and promote and encourage the employment of the elderly by determining the tasks appropriate to the age groups and providing opportunities for the elder people to work and take part in activities as members of the organization.