Journal of Economics and Political Economy www.kspjournals.org Volume 3 December 2016 Issue 4 Skilled Labor Mobility in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC): Experience from Thailand Labor Market By Sujinda CHEMSRIPONG a † Abstract. Skilled labor mobility in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) plays an important issue in labor market due to the impact of globalization, especially increasing demand for high technology and integration among region. This impact leads free movement of workers among employer in service sectors, foreign investment and need more demand for skilled labor. Moreover, AEC blueprint in 2015 outlined to moves forward to free flow of skilled labor achieve strategic goal of single market and production base. These included facilitate the issuance of visas and employment passes; mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) for major professional service; core concordance of service skills and qualifications; and enhance cooperation among ASEAN universities to increase region mobility for student and staff. To achieve the free flow of skilled labor in AEC member countries many issue have been discussed such as the mutual recognition arrangement (MRAs) for major professional services and core competencies for job skills required in the priority integration services (PIS) sectors (ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint: 2012). The objective of the study is to determine the impact of AEC on Thai labor market by using the comparison of labor immigration in AEC member countries. The paper provides a description of (a) currently govern the cross-country labor movement within ASEAN for skilled workers: and b) the analytical framework that support the discussion in deriving the recommendations that there are already experiences on these types of worker movements. The finding of Thai labor market has found in two characteristics: shortage of professionals and technicians and unskilled and semi-skilled labor. Keywords. Labor migration, ASEAN economic community: AEC, Labor market, Thailand. JEL. C91, E20, F66, J61. 1. Introduction he impact of globalization and explosive growth of information and communications technology (ICT) can lead skilled labor mobility among region. A net flow of highly skilled professionals and executives or brains from the less developed countries to the more developed countries is a growing issue in recent years. This phenomenon has gained importance in the past two decades, although their numbers are still small relative to the large flows semi- skilled and unskilled foreign workers. Now, many developed countries as well as advanced developing countries have considered policies of attracting brains. At the a † Faculty of Business Economics and Communication, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand 65000, Thailand. . +660866744001 . sujindac@hotmail.com T