Demand Competency for Labor and Manpower Production to Labor Market in Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to 1) study the demand for labor market in Chiang Mai province, 2) the manpower to its labor market, and 3) the labor competencies demanded by its entrepreneurs. Mixed-methods research by integrating the quantitative and qualitative researches was conducted in this research. Questionnaires were used to collect the quantitative data from the target group consisting of two government agencies providing the information on labor market demand, 19 educational institutes providing lower and higher vocational education programs, and 4 workplaces. The quantitative data were analyzed for percentage and percentile rank. The results of this quantitative data analysis were explained and tabulated in details. Interview forms were used as a qualitative research instrument to collect the data. Qualitative content analysis was then administrated to analyze the data. The results of this research were as follows:

            1.The demand for labor market accounted for 9,314 employed persons. The data on the classification of educational attainment were sorted into five categories. It was found that the first category of 4,120 employed persons who had completed the higher secondary level of school or the lower secondary level of school stood at 44.23 percent. The second category of 2,219 employed persons who had completed the higher vocational level of school stood at 23.82 percent. The third category of 1,678 employed persons who had completed the upper secondary level of bachelor’s degree stood at 18.02 percent. The fourth category of 1,252 employed persons who had completed the lower vocational level of school stood at 13.44 percent. The fifth category of 45 employed persons who had not remarked on their educational attainments stood at 0.48 percent.

1. The manpower to labor market was sorted into subject categories. It was found that Industry was the first subject category that 11,509 employed persons had completed, standing at 50.96 percent. Commerce/Business Administration was the second subject category that 5,584 employed persons had completed, standing at 24.73 percent. Tourism Industry was the third subject category that 1,756 employed persons had completed, standing at 7.78 percent. Agriculture was the fourth subject category that 1,271 employed persons had completed, standing at 6.63 percent. Home Economics was the fifth subject category that 1,016 employed persons had completed, standing at 4.50 percent. Information and Communication Technology was the sixth subject category that 1,016 employed persons had completed, standing at 3.56 percent. Fine and Applied Arts was the seventh subject category that 627 employed persons had completed, standing at 2.78 percent. Fisheries was the eighth subject category that 17 employed persons had completed, standing at 0.78 percent. For Fiber Industry, there was no data available on manpower.


2. Labor competencies were analyzed with respect to the demands of Chiang Mai entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs had placed an importance on eight competencies that were sorted into descending order; the first competence of reading, writing, and speaking skills at foreign languages; the second competence of learning skills at occupational development; the third competence of cross-cultural understanding people from different cultures and schemata; the fourth competence of critical thinking and problem solving; the fifth competence of collaboration, teamwork, and leadership; the sixth competence of communications, information and media literacy; the seventh competence of computing and information communication technology (ICT) literacy; and, the eighth competence of creativity and innovation.