Labour inspection in private homes presents unique challenges. Unlike a factory or a construction site, domestic workers are dispersed across thousands of households, worker locations may not be readily available, and access may be restricted in private residences. For the roughly 125,000 registered migrant domestic workers in Thailand, largely women from Lao People's Democratic Republic and Myanmar, and many more in irregular status - these barriers can leave them vulnerable and difficult to reach through conventional labour inspection methods.
That is beginning to change. Through the PROTECT project, the ILO and the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare (DLPW) are working together to develop a new approach: strategic compliance planning for the domestic work sector.
Rather than relying solely on traditional inspection visits - often difficult, time-consuming and resource-intensive in private households - strategic compliance planning helps labour inspectors develop and consider interventions that can have broader, systemic impact: engaging recruitment agencies, building partnerships with civil society organizations and community networks, strengthening complaint pathways for workers, and working with other government agencies to create the conditions in which compliance becomes more likely across the sector as a whole.
This approach takes on new urgency following the April 2024 amendment of Ministerial Regulation No. 15, which extended key protections of the Labour Protection Act to domestic workers for the first time - including the right to an eight-hour workday, the minimum wage, and 98 days of maternity leave. More than two years later, translating legal reform into real change in thousands of private homes across Thailand continues to be a significant challenge. What is required is a compliance system built for the sector's unique characteristics.
"Without enforcement the laws are only words on paper. If we understand the content of the law and it is enforced effectively, it would be most beneficial for all of us," said Jantana Ekeurmanee, Project Manager of Foundation of Labour and Employment Promotion, an NGO which supports migrant domestic workers in Thailand.
In August and September 2025, a first cohort of 60 labour inspectors from twenty Northeastern provinces of Thailand received targeted training on domestic worker inspection, guided by a new inspection manual developed with ILO input.
Building on that foundation, the strategic compliance planning workshop was held on14-15 May 2026 for labour inspectors, planners and policy staff from DLWP national and Bangkok-based districts. The workshop equipped them with the tools to move from individual inspection visits to systemic, province-wide approaches.
Participants worked through practical scenarios reflecting the real challenges of the sector: coordinating with the Department of Employment on data collection; designing community outreach for workers who may not otherwise access government services; and providing training and awareness raising to employers so that the burden is not only on workers to enforce their own rights from an asymmetrical power dynamic.
"The workshop emphasized the importance of networking and connecting with a wide range of stakeholders that can help promote compliance," said a labour inspector from DLPW.
Thailand's domestic work sector sits at the intersection of labour migration, gender inequality and social protection. Workers face compounded vulnerabilities including language barriers, limited awareness of their rights, and the isolated nature of work in private households. Strategic compliance seeks to address these challenges through a combination of enforcement, awareness raising and cooperation with employers, recruitment agencies, civil society organizations and government partners. By shifting the focus from reactive inspection to proactive, multi-pronged approaches, labour inspectors can drive genuine change in how domestic work is valued, regulated and experienced.
The PROTECT project - Ensuring Decent Work and Reducing Vulnerabilities for Women and Children in the Context of Labour Migration in South-East Asia - is funded by the European Union and implemented jointly by the ILO, UN Women, UNICEF and UNODC across Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
