Political Economy of Skill Formation and Gender Bias in Skills and Employment in Hierarchical Market Economies: The Case of Thailand

Abstract

Abstract Skills are, in large part, the product of deliberate investment by various actors, including employers and states, rather than something coming into being spontaneously through individual choices and endeavors alone. The divergent political economy of skill formation has been rigorously examined, focusing mainly on advanced capitalist economies. However, both theoretical and empirical research on the political economy of skill formation of developing economies is surprisingly scarce. Examining the skill formation system of an emerging economy, Thailand, the author finds that the main actors, power distribution, and their dynamics for skill formation and governance are distinct from the economies outlined before but can be explained through the framework of the hierarchical market economy (hme) model. Drawing on recent studies highlighting gendered perspectives on skill regimes, this paper further examines whether and how Thailand’s hme-type skill formation system affects gender bias in skills and employment. The analysis shows that the dominance of conglomerates and multinationals intensifies the prioritization of general skills. The author claims that Thailand’s focus on promoting general skills that are portable and less vulnerable to intermittent labor market participation contributes to less occupational segregation by gender.