The Elderly as Additional Workers on the Thai Labor Market
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Abstract
This paper extends the life cycle labor supply model of individual to explain the impact of the recession on all members of extended family, which includes both working-age worker and the elderly. Model of family joint utility maximization suggests that the reduction of family’s income due to the labor earnings loss of the breadwinner will cause the increase in the work of the elderly in the extended family, such as parents in retirement age. The paper finds an increase in the labor force participation rate and employment rate of the elderly in Thailand during the economic crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic where unemployment and underemployment of young and prime age workers increase. Due to the fact that many Thai elderly people rely on income from their children, therefore these evidences imply that some elderly people respond to job and income losses of children by adjusting the labor supply as additional workers on the labor market. Moreover, the elderly workers are affected by this crisis in terms of unemployment as well. Hence, the working situation of elderly workers should be more concerned.
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