Phuket's Burma Wave

Understanding the market mix of nationalities working in Phuket remains an arcane science.
One key metric remains the division between statistics maintained for work permits between one group which includes Burma, Laos and Cambodia and everyone also.
An interesting read was Anand Singh's update in the Phuket Gazette which reported that construction companies remain the single larges employer of expats on the island.
The PPRO (Phuket Provincial Employment Office) last year said over 30,000 of workers from neighboring countries had legal employment status. To perhaps make matters more confusing they state that upwards of 50,000 can legally reside in Phuket.
In realistic terms its estimated that the number of illegal construction workers has a high multiple which certainly explains the inexplicable variance between the official population on the island and what many believe to be a figure over 1 million.