Why Thailand is Aging and Short of Workers
Thailand has entered aged society status as more than one fifth of its people are 60 or older. The shift is already changing the labour market. As of September 2025, the country had 65.8 million people, including 14.1 million aged 60 and above, or 21.5 percent. In the first half of 2025, deaths outnumbered births, a sign of demographic momentum toward an older population and a smaller pool of new entrants to work. Demographers and economists warn that this will challenge growth, public finances, and household well-being unless more people, including seniors, women, and migrants, can participate in work for longer and with higher productivity.
Projections show the pressure building for decades. Thailand’s working age share is expected to fall from around 71 percent in 2020 to about 56 percent by 2060, according to international assessments. One analysis estimates demographic change could trim GDP per capita growth by roughly 0.86 percent in the 2020s if nothing else changes. By 2045, the old age dependency ratio could exceed 50 percent. At the same time, the labour force has already been shrinking and informality remains high, with more than half of jobs outside formal protections and about a third of workers still in agriculture. This combination weighs on productivity and the tax base, and it complicates saving for retirement.
Older people face specific barriers in employment, including health conditions, care responsibilities, limited formal education in many cases, and digital skills gaps. Yet longer healthy lives, better training, improved job design, and modern human resource practices can keep many seniors active and productive. Thailand’s policy debate now centers on how to bring more seniors into suitable roles, redesign workplaces, update labour rules for flexible schedules, and invest in the care economy that an older society needs.
Recruiting Seniors Back to Work
Businesses are already tapping experienced older workers. Central Restaurants Group has created a senior worker scheme that hires retirees and new senior job seekers into store roles across brands such as Auntie Anne’s and KFC. The company employs around 80 older workers among roughly 14,000 staff and adapts responsibilities to match each person’s abilities. Tasks that demand heavy lifting are avoided, while customer service, quality checks, mentoring, and front-of-house duties are common. Shops are fitted with accessible features so movement and safety are easier for older staff.
New matching platforms are emerging as well. YoungHappy’s Happy Job platform helps seniors find part time, full time, and freelance roles aligned with their health and skills. Policy incentives exist, including double tax deductions on wages for workers aged 60 and over. Employers and advocates are asking for a higher wage cap on these deductions, and for a central database of older job seekers that consolidates training records, certifications, and work preferences. Today, labour rules that require daily minimum wages complicate short shifts, which many seniors prefer. A legal path for hourly or task based work, with proper protections, would create more flexible options.
Will a Higher Retirement Age Deliver Results
The government is studying an increase in the civil service retirement age from 60 to 65 to reflect longer lifespans and to relieve staffing pressures. The Office of the Civil Service Commission has been tasked with assessing consequences for pension funds, human resource systems, and opportunities for younger applicants. The study covers 1.12 million government officials, with about 414,000 civil servants as the main group under consideration. A phased transition, spread over at least a decade, is under discussion to limit disruption. Authorities signal that recruitment will continue at a steady pace and that pension calculations will remain based on the salary at age 60 to avoid undue fiscal strain.
What changes for workers and agencies
A higher retirement age would keep experienced specialists in service longer and reduce vacancy pressures as the workforce shrinks. Agencies would need robust workforce planning to balance retention with advancement for younger staff, including lateral development paths and targeted promotions. Managers would also need to ensure accommodations for health and safe workloads for older employees. In parallel, clearer pathways for second careers after public service, including part time roles and consulting opportunities, can support choice and maintain motivation.
The Care Economy Crunch
Population aging is driving a surge in demand for home and community care. An International Labour Organization study projects that Thailand will need up to 250,000 additional paid home based elderly care workers by 2037 if care gaps are closed and legal, decent conditions are enforced. Thailand promotes aging in place, which helps seniors stay in their communities, but the model depends on available caregivers. Without investment, the burden could grow on low income families, with nurses, community volunteers, and domestic workers, many of them migrants, bearing much of the work under difficult conditions.
The ILO urges greater public investment in local care systems, fair and legal migration channels, skills certification, and training for both Thai and migrant caregivers. Technology can help. Telemedicine, remote monitoring, and assistive devices can make caregiving safer and more efficient, which could reduce the projected shortage to below 100,000 workers. New protections introduced in Ministerial Regulation No. 15 (2024) under the Labour Protection Act 1998 strengthen rights for domestic workers who often provide elder care. Xiaoyan Qian, Director of the ILO Country Office for Thailand, Cambodia, and the Lao PDR, underscored the value of quality jobs in care.
Qian emphasized the need to treat care as skilled work and to make it a viable career path.
