Lower middle-class Thai workers hav

Lower middle-class Thai workers have much difficulty catching up with the group above them, notes an economist from Thailand Development Research Institute.

Somchai Jitsuchon, TDRI's research director for macroeconomic development and income distribution, said the country's highest-earning group is benefitting from increased interconnectedness in the world via technology, while the poorest group had seen their income rise quickly in the past as well.

Lower middle-income earners haven't been able to catch up with the rich and are being squeezed by the lower-income group. While they still stand to benefit from technology and globalisation, corruption is compounding their problem," he said.

Dr Somchai said academics call the widespread trend the "missing middle". The trend could explain social and political discontentment in many countries, including Thailand.

Some members of this group just emerged from poverty and have secondary school educations, earning the majority of their incomes from their labour.

"The lowest bracket of the middle-income group feels the most pressure about their future," he said.

In Thailand, the richest 20% make almost 60% of the income, the highest among Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Phillippines and Vietnam in 2009. In addition, the poorest 20% garnered only 4% of the income, also the lowest among the group