A number of developing East Asian countries have achieved both rapid
economic growth and poverty reduction by effectively utilizing global value chains. An
essential condition for their economic development, though often being neglected, is
smooth labor movements from the rural/traditional/informal to urban/modern/informal
sectors. This paper demonstrates that such labor movements have played an important
role in the process of industrialization with global value chains. After conducting some
international comparison, we examine the case of Thailand for its massive labor
movements until the mid-2000s as well as discussing stagnant moves in recent years.