Thailand Turns to Older Workers as Labour Shortages and Care Needs Grow

An Older Population Is Reshaping Thailand's Workforce

Thailand had 14.1 million people aged 60 and above in September 2025, representing 21.5 percent of its population of 65.8 million. With more than one fifth of its people in that age group, the country has entered aged society status. Businesses and the government are looking at how older people can stay in suitable jobs as the pool of younger workers narrows.

Deaths outnumbered births in the first half of 2025. That demographic shift points toward an older population and fewer new entrants to work. As of November 10, 2025, Thailand's response includes recruiting seniors into restaurants, developing job matching services, studying a higher civil service retirement age and preparing for greater demand for elderly care.

Demographers and economists warn that an aging population will put pressure on economic growth, public finances and household well-being. Their proposed response reaches beyond older workers: more women and migrants also need opportunities to participate in work, while productivity, the amount produced through that work, needs to improve.

Older people face practical barriers, including health conditions, care responsibilities, limited formal education in many cases and gaps in digital skills. Longer healthy lives, better training, improved job design and modern human resource practices can help more seniors remain active and productive. The policy challenge is to make employment fit people's abilities and circumstances.

A Smaller Working Population Creates Lasting Pressure

Thailand's working age share is expected to fall from around 71 percent of the population in 2020 to about 56 percent by 2060, according to international assessments. That is a decline of 15 percentage points. It means a smaller share of the population would be in the age range generally associated with employment.

One analysis estimates that demographic change could trim GDP per capita growth by roughly 0.86 percent in the 2020s if nothing else changes. GDP per capita measures economic output per person. Slower growth in that measure would make improving living standards more difficult.

By 2045, Thailand's old age dependency ratio could exceed 50 percent. This ratio compares the older population with the population of working age. A rising ratio means more older people relative to the group from which most workers are drawn, increasing pressure on household support and public finances.

Thailand's labour force has already been shrinking. More than half of jobs are outside formal protections, and about a third of workers remain in agriculture. This combination weighs on productivity and the tax base, the earnings and activity from which government collects revenue. It also makes saving for retirement more difficult.

Keeping more people employed for longer is therefore one part of a wider response. Thailand also needs work that produces more value and provides better protection, so that longer working lives can support both household income and the public resources needed by an older society.

Restaurants Are Finding Roles for Senior Staff

Central Restaurants Group has introduced a scheme that recruits retirees and new senior job seekers for store roles across brands including Auntie Anne's and KFC. The company employs around 80 older workers among roughly 14,000 staff.

Those figures put older employees at about 0.6 percent of the company's workforce. The scheme remains small in relation to its total staffing, but it provides a practical example of how employers are adapting roles to recruit people beyond the usual retirement age.

Central Restaurants Group matches responsibilities to each person's abilities. Older staff avoid tasks requiring heavy lifting and commonly work in customer service, quality checks, mentoring and duties serving customers at the front of the store. Shops also have accessible features to make movement easier and improve safety.

The approach connects recruitment with workplace design. A senior employee may have experience suited to helping customers or mentoring colleagues while needing a workload that takes account of physical limits. Suitable tasks and accessible premises allow that experience to remain useful.

Flexible Jobs Need Matching Services and Clear Rules

YoungHappy's Happy Job platform helps seniors find part time, full time and freelance roles that match their health and skills. Those options address different needs: some older people want regular employment, while others prefer shorter hours or individual assignments.

Thailand already offers employers double tax deductions on wages paid to workers aged 60 and over. The incentive allows qualifying wage costs to count twice when calculating deductions for tax purposes. Employers and advocates are seeking a higher wage cap for those deductions to make the incentive more useful.

Employers and advocates also want a central database of older job seekers. Their proposal would bring together training records, certifications and work preferences, giving employers a clearer way to identify candidates and helping seniors find roles suited to their qualifications and availability.

Daily minimum wage requirements complicate short shifts, which many seniors prefer. A legal route for hourly work or payment by task, accompanied by proper protections, would create more flexible options. The policy discussion therefore covers both how people find jobs and how those jobs can be arranged.

Training and updated labour rules would need to work alongside changes inside workplaces. Digital skills gaps can limit access to opportunities, while health conditions and care responsibilities can affect the hours someone is able to work. Matching a vacancy to a person's skills is only part of making the job sustainable.

A Retirement Age of 65 Is Under Study

The government is studying an increase in the civil service retirement age from 60 to 65, reflecting longer lifespans and pressure on staffing. The Office of the Civil Service Commission has been tasked with assessing the 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 forming the main group under consideration. A phased transition lasting at least a decade is under discussion to limit disruption. The proposal remains under study, with no implementation date given.

Authorities have indicated that recruitment would continue at a steady pace. They have also signalled that pension calculations would remain based on salary at age 60 to avoid undue fiscal strain. This would keep the proposed extension of service separate from the salary basis used to calculate pensions.

A higher retirement age could retain experienced specialists and ease vacancy pressures as the workforce shrinks. Agencies would need careful workforce planning to balance that retention with advancement for younger staff, including opportunities to develop in other roles and targeted promotions.

Managers would also need to provide suitable workloads and accommodations for older employees' health and safety. Alongside longer public service careers, clearer routes into second careers, including part time work and consulting after leaving government, could support personal choice and maintain motivation.

Elderly Care Could Require 250,000 More Workers

An International Labour Organization study projects that Thailand could need up to 250,000 additional paid workers providing elderly care at home by 2037. The estimate assumes that care gaps are closed and legal, decent working conditions are enforced.

Thailand promotes aging in place, meaning that older people remain in their homes and communities as they age. This approach depends on caregivers being available to provide the help people need. Growing demand for home and community care makes staffing a central part of the country's response to aging.

Without investment, the burden could grow on families with low incomes. Nurses, community volunteers and domestic workers, many of them migrants, already bear much of the work under difficult conditions. Expanding care services therefore involves both finding more workers and improving the conditions in which they work.

The care economy also connects to Thailand's wider employment challenge. Care responsibilities are among the barriers that can keep older people from paid work. Adequate services matter both to people receiving care and to households whose members provide it.

Training, Technology and Worker Protection Matter

The International Labour Organization calls for greater public investment in local care systems, fair and legal migration channels, skills certification, and training for Thai and migrant caregivers. These measures would support a larger workforce with recognised skills and clearer employment protections.

Telemedicine, remote monitoring and assistive devices could make caregiving safer and more efficient. Telemedicine allows care to be provided from a distance, while remote monitoring helps track someone's condition without requiring a caregiver to be constantly present. The study indicates that technology could reduce the projected worker shortage to below 100,000.

Ministerial Regulation No. 15 (2024), introduced under the Labour Protection Act 1998, strengthens rights for domestic workers, who often provide elderly care. Protection for this group is part of ensuring that the expansion of care services also creates decent employment.

Xiaoyan Qian, Director of the ILO Country Office for Thailand, Cambodia, and the Lao PDR, underscored the value of quality jobs in care. She stressed the need to treat care as skilled work and make it a viable career path.

Thailand's silver economy brings these developments together: older people can remain workers, while an aging population creates greater demand for care and support. Recruiting seniors, considering longer civil service careers and investing in caregivers address connected pressures, each requiring suitable jobs, training and protection.

Key Points

• Thailand had 14.1 million people aged 60 and above in September 2025, or 21.5 percent of its population.
• The working age share is projected to fall from around 71 percent in 2020 to about 56 percent by 2060.
• Central Restaurants Group employs around 80 older workers among roughly 14,000 staff, with duties adapted to their abilities.
• Happy Job matches seniors with employment, while employers and advocates seek stronger tax incentives and clearer rules for flexible work.
• The government is studying a civil service retirement age of 65, with a transition lasting at least a decade under discussion.
• Thailand could need up to 250,000 additional paid caregivers working in homes by 2037. Technology could reduce the projected shortage to below 100,000.
• The ILO calls for investment, training, legal migration channels and decent working conditions to support elderly care.