Page 464 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 2

IPS320 Wissanee P. et al.

Testing of dependent contractor sub-category in
the Thailand Labor Force Survey 2017
2
Wissanee Poonsab , Françoise Carré , Joann Vanek 2
1
1 Thailand National Statistical Office
2 WIEGO

Abstract
Using the Thailand 2017 Labor Force Survey, a test was carried out of
questions designed to identify Dependent Contractors, a sub-category of
Dependent Contractors recommended in the 20 ICLS Resolution on Work
th
and Employment Relationships. The primary focus of the test was the
identification of dependent contractors among self-identified self-employed
workers. Regarding identifying likely dependent contractors through this self-
employed path, we find that combining the “price control” criterion with the
criterion of getting supplies “from others” provides a good, if narrowly
defined, indicator of dependent contractor status for unincorporated own-
account self-employed workers, especially those outside of Agriculture. By
itself, the price control criterion also is a fairly good indicator. Important next
steps would be to examine separately the Agriculture and non-Agriculture
workers who do not control price and “get their own supplies.” Conclusions
provide suggestions for additional questions.

Keywords
Economic dependency; Operational dependency

1. Introduction
The analysis presented in this paper is the result of a collaboration between
the Thailand National Statistical Office and WIEGO, in consultation with the
International Labour Office Department of Statistics. WIEGO is a global
research and policy network focused on improving the livelihood of workers
in the informal economy, especially women. WIEGO places priority on the
development of statistics on these workers as a crucial element in polices and
plans to improve their livelihood. At the request of HomeNet South Asia the
Thailand Statistical Office and WIEGO collaborated to prepare statistics on
home-based workers –both independent home-based workers and
dependent homeworkers - through data in the national labour force survey.
To do so, questions were added to the 2017 Labour Force Survey. These
questions also provided a test for the criteria required to identify dependent
contractors.
The primary focus of the test was the identification of dependent
contractors among self-identified self-employed persons. Often home-based
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