Poor really are getting poorer in Thailand

[Eric Loh]

Sorry I attached the webpage that currently not available but do goggle 'why Thailand unemployment rate is ridiculously low'. 5 reasons were given. 

[simoh1490]

6 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

https://www.bangkokpost.com/.../why-thailand-unemployment-rate-is-ri... - แปลหน้านี้

 

 

That link is no longer available so I can't comment.

[simoh1490]

6 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Sorry I attached the webpage that currently not available but do goggle 'why Thailand unemployment rate is ridiculously low'. 5 reasons were given. 

Yes, I've read several of those links before, especially the Bloomberg link. The point is though, the numbers today are broadly in line with the history, if you want to argue the real unemployment rate is much higher I might be inclined to agree with you. But if you're arguing that something has changed recently to make the unemployment rate substantially increase, you would be wrong.

[Srikcir]

8 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Sorry I attached the webpage that currently not available but do goggle 'why Thailand unemployment rate is ridiculously low'. 5 reasons were given. 

Seemingly low rate yet:

The higher jobless rate in the country can be attributed to new fresh graduates (27%) in the country are unable to find jobs due to:

• lack of investments (lost 70% foreign investors in 2015)
• lack skills necessary to meet the industry demands
• 70% to 80% of fresh graduates are not skilled to meet industry demands
• 72% of jobs in Thailand run the risk of being replaced by robots

http://www.hrinasia.com/hr-news/increasing-unemployment-in-thailand-owing-to-lack-of-new-investments-in-the-country/

So it does beg the credibility that Thais as a whole are becoming wealthier.

[simoh1490]

4 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Seemingly low rate yet:

The higher jobless rate in the country can be attributed to new fresh graduates (27%) in the country are unable to find jobs due to:

• lack of investments (lost 70% foreign investors in 2015)
• lack skills necessary to meet the industry demands
• 70% to 80% of fresh graduates are not skilled to meet industry demands
• 72% of jobs in Thailand run the risk of being replaced by robots

http://www.hrinasia.com/hr-news/increasing-unemployment-in-thailand-owing-to-lack-of-new-investments-in-the-country/

So it does beg the credibility that Thais as a whole are becoming wealthier.

You're mixing a combination of cherry picked headlines with anecdotal data. Of course, FDI was low in 2015, when The Fed starts to increase rates and a the country has a coup, what else would you expect! Here's the FDI picture: https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/foreign-direct-investment

 

The skills gap picture you present is perhaps a valid point but it doesn't really have much bearing on whether people are getting more wealthy over the past twenty years or not! I mean, the UK has got a massive skills gap yet that doesn't affect the value of the UK economy and its growth.

 

As for robots replacing Thai workers, that's too silly to even comment on in the  context of what's being discussed here.

[cchina184]

hey, just like murca. makes me feel right at home. 

[billd766]

17 hours ago, bangrak said:

What a surprise (NOT)! The wealthy are getting more wealthy at a v x v' pace in Thailand, what else to expect then? No miraclesin maths. Three years ago, there were a few(!) bits among the many (unkept) promises of changes and reforms about reducing the stellar distance between 'base' and 'top' in Thailand, the 'concentration of wealth', but, at the time being, the 'solution' implemented seems to have rather been to make military brass richer, ...serving the interests of the wealthy 1 odd percent holding power, whatever pseudo-government is in place TRT/PPP/PTP, or DP, ...or military. I'm not Thai, but as a large number of Thais, I did believe in the promises. How silly am I? But, not being Thai, I don't directly suffer from it. For them, it must be so hard to discover, more and more, they have been fooled again, one more time. Though it seems, displeased or angered they might be, lame and tame they remain, 'the system' really has made a 'good' job reducing a population to modern slavery, ...while calling them 'the free' and 'the brave', what's in a name...?

 

In the early days I also believed in the military after they took over but I have found that they are not much different than any of the elected governments I have seen in the last 20 years.

 

Out here I don't think many Thais care WHO runs the country as they kinow they will be ignored and screwed over anyway. They are more interested in getting and keeping a job, a roof over their head, food on the table, school books and fees and hoping that their kids can keep away from drugs.

[nausea]

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer - historical fact of life in any society devised to date, that's why we have revolutions. Of course, a revolution doesn't change anything, apart from who's rich and who's poor.

[Eric Loh]

51 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Out here I don't think many Thais care WHO runs the country as they kinow they will be ignored and screwed over anyway. They are more interested in getting and keeping a job, a roof over their head, food on the table, school books and fees and hoping that their kids can keep away from drugs.

I do think the election turnouts are good indication whether Thais care who runs the country. The 2011 election has a 70+% turnout and previous elections are in a range between 60 to 70+. Whoever the voters elect as the government do play a key part in providing their next meal and kids education. That's why I am for democracy and election over a post coup military junta. The former does give the voters a chance to chose or not chose who should be at the helm and a chance to vote them out after 4 years if they could not provide the necessities to the people. The latter is just the opposite and can be entrenched if they decide not to hold election. I hope not for the sake of the Thai people. 

[simoh1490]

There's an article in The Bangkok Post this morning where the World Bank praises Thailand for exceptional efforts in eradicating extreme poverty and for fostering a large middle class. Thai GDP is now third in the region, just slightly below that of China. 

[Srikcir]

On 11/29/2017 at 5:29 PM, Eric Loh said:

I do think the election turnouts are good indication whether Thais care who runs the country.

I would hesitate such conclusion with regards to the next election.

The 2007 Constitution differs from the 2017 Constitution by my reading with regard to voting in national elections:

2007 Constitution, CHAPTER IV, Duties of the Thai People, Section 72:

•  Every person shall have a duty to exercise his right to vote at an election.
• The person who exercises his right to vote at an election or fails to attend an election for voting without notifying the reasonable cause of such failure shall be entitled to or lose the right as provided by law.

2017 Constitution, CHAPTER IV, Duties of the Thai People, Section 50:

•  A person shall have the following duties:
• (7) to freely exercise the right to vote at an election or a public referendum, importantly bearing in mind the common interests of the country

Voting under the 2007 Constitution was mandatory or one loses their right to vote. So I'd expect a high turnout for the 2011 election.

Perhaps in view that Democrat MPs including Abhisit and Suthep, and their protest supporters (ie., PDRC) refused to vote in the February 2014 elections, the new 2017 Constitution removed mandatory voting and sanctions for failing to vote. Thus, allowing disenfranchised voters under the 2007 Constitution to vote in the next election (2018?) under the 2017 Constitution.

 

The Referendum on the 2017 Draft Constitution did not require mandatory voting. Total turnout was a low 59% of which 61% approved the Draft.

 

If history can be a gauge for future events, I'd expect a relatively low turnout in the next election compared to the 2011 election. Such viewpoint might be further supported by a significant change in the balloting system and the electoral system that might discourage minority party turnout.

 

 

[anon537687643]

As the phrase says “tell us something we don’t know “


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[simoh1490]

Yes I agree, Thai's are legally required by law to vote.

 

BUT, the subject is whether the poor are getting poorer, todays Bangkok Post article is a must read on this subject.

[simoh1490]

Hmm, all the posters thinking Thailand is full of poor people have suddenly gone quiet.

[JaiLai]

Most People,  foreigners who live in Thailand have never been in the provinces and seen the real poverty.

I can speak from my personal experience of living in rural Thailand.

Example - not far from where I stay there’s a few shitty little wooden style, tin roof homes, one might say they’re poor...

However most of them have a vehicle of which I’d say none are more than 7-8 years old, several have True vision dishes.

So you decide, is this poverty? I would say it’s stupidity. Rather than repairing their shitty little huts they’d rather appear to their friends some form of wealth as they have a car ( likely on finance at 1000-2000 baht a month for 20 years ), I’m sure they’d have the latest smart phone too.

The poverty comes ( IMO ) coz they’re lazy and stupid mostly.

This is what I’ve witnessed over 17 years, although only about 1/2 that time in rural Thailand.


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