02097cas a2200241 a 4500 AALejournalIMF015075 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781498395335 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Klyuev, Vladimir. Structural Transformation : How Does Thailand Compare? / Vladimir Klyuev. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2015. 1 online resource (30 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students Thailand stands out in international comparison as a country with a high dispersion of productivity across sectors. It has especially low labor productivity in agriculture-a sector that employs a much larger share of the population than is typical for a country at Thailand's level of income. This suggests large potential productivity gains from labor reallocation across sectors, but that process-which made a significant contribution to Thailand's growth in the past-appears to have stalled lately. This paper establishes these facts and applies a simple model to discuss possible explanations. The reasons include a gap between the skills possessed by rural workers and those required in the modern sectors; the government's price support programs for several agricultural commodities, particularly rice; and the uniform minimum wage. At the same time, agriculture plays a useful social and economic role as the employer of last resort. The paper makes a number of policy recommendations aimed at facilitating structural transformation in the Thai economy. Mode of access: Internet IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2015/051 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2015/051/001.2015.issue-051-en.xml IMF e-Library