Paper Title
Determinants of Human Capital Accumulation of Return Migrants Working Abroad
Abstract
This article focuses on the factors that determine human capital accumulation of return migrants working abroad. The quantitative approach was used with an individual analysis unit. The sample was 420 return migrants in Northeastern Thailand who had relocated from 6 months to 7 years. Interview forms that had 0.902 reliability and content validity served as research tools. The data was collected in Chaiyaphum Province, northeastern Thailand. Multiple regression statistics and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that men make up the majority of return migrants from abroad. Moreover, they were aged between 40-59 years old, 54.2% completed secondary school, more than half emigrated to work abroad for the first time through recruitment agencies. The destinations were Eastern countries, such as Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. Most have a migration period of 3-5 years and more than half of them return home within 4-7 years. Return migrants have a generally positive attitude toward moving to work abroad (63.4%), as well as expectations of a moderate amount of migration (46.4%) and self-esteem (53.8%). After returning, 48.3% had accumulated a moderate level of human capital, particularly in terms of life skills. (Life planning, financial management, time management, resource management, and health management). The results also showed that years of education, lawful immigration, self-esteem, migration aspirations, and household support were factors that affect the accumulation of human capital after migrant workers return home. All independent variables could explain 41.8% of the variation in human capital accumulation of return migrants (R2=0.418).
Keywords - Human Capital Accumulation, Self-esteem, Return Migration, Working Abroad