Six million Thais rendered jobless by COVID-19 pandemic – ThaiHealth

[webfact]

Commuters with facemasks to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus walk to a train station at rush hour in Bangkok a few months ago.

 

About six million Thais have been rendered jobless, since the COVID-19 pandemic struck Thailand early last year, and 1.3 million university and college graduates are unlikely to find jobs or have opportunities to develop their capabilities, according to Khempetch Lenaphan of Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) on Friday.

 

Citing a survey of people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, conducted by the National Statistical Office in cooperation with Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) and the UN Children’s Fund, she said that Thai people aged 15 to 24, especially those in their last year at university, are likely to be unemployed after graduation, because most private companies have halted or slowed recruitment.

 

Moreover, Khempetch noted that most Thai workers do not have savings plans and, hence, do not have a nest-egg to rely upon if they are laid off.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/six-million-thais-rendered-jobless-by-covid-19-pandemic-thaihealth/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-04-17

[RichardColeman]

15 minutes ago, webfact said:

About six million Thais have been rendered jobless, since the COVID-19 pandemic struck Thailand early last year,

Assuming Thailand has say 50 million working age people, and assuming say 2% were unemployed before covid , that would put Thailand unemployment now at about 14%.

 

Don't see that on any Thai unemployment graph yet.

 

Either the report is wrong or the figures are hidden.

 

[bkk6060]

Add the GDP I believe they said is down 6%?

Got to be more like 25% plus with 40 million tourists lost. 

Seems like a depression rather then a recession.

Edited April 16, 2021 by bkk6060

[Excel]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

Assuming Thailand has say 50 million working age people, and assuming say 2% were unemployed before covid , that would put Thailand unemployment now at about 14%.

 

Don't see that on any Thai unemployment graph yet.

 

Either the report is wrong or the figures are hidden.

 

Well do you actually think this government would be reporting anything that indicates their ongoing incompetence of running this country ?

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

Assuming Thailand has say 50 million working age people, and assuming say 2% were unemployed before covid , that would put Thailand unemployment now at about 14%.

 

Don't see that on any Thai unemployment graph yet.

 

Either the report is wrong or the figures are hidden.

 

 

You think to highly of the local working spirit.

 

People of working age now make up about 38.7 million, or more than half of Thailand’s population of 66 million, the National Statistics Office says.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/thailand-population-idUSL3N14Z1PC

 

[ThailandRyan]

Yet those are the ones they know of.  How about the millions of informal workers who are unemployed as well.  Yet the ThB still has not lost its Teflon coating except for a few dings it keeps on staying strong.  The people get a pittance of stimulus while the usupers gain ungodly wealth.  

Edited April 16, 2021 by ThailandRyan

[Pattaya Spotter]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

Assuming Thailand has say 50 million working age people, and assuming say 2% were unemployed before covid , that would put Thailand unemployment now at about 14%.

 

Don't see that on any Thai unemployment graph yet.

 

Either the report is wrong or the figures are hidden.

 

Thailand's population is about 65M...so a labour force of 50M (76% of the pop) would be quite high). It's generally around 60% of a population or 39M for Thailand so 6M lost jobs is about 15% of them. A lot to be sure and certainly a tragedy for those affected. 

[Excel]

With a working age population currently of around 35,500,000 that represents a figure of  almost 17% unemployment, a staggering figure indeed from what once was called the Tiger economy of the 80s.  With no further government support for most of these people the  future is bleak indeed, and for their children.

[nausea]

54 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Yet the ThB still has not list its Teflon coating except for a few dings it keeps on staying strong.

Weird indeed, given the economic hit in a tourism dependent country, but I'm no economics expert. How this works is beyond me, I've always assumed there was a lot of black money floating around and this was dependent on tourism. Still, even the little bit of improvement (sterling wise) is welcome. Like, I built in safety margins when I came here, and when it dropped from 68 to 50, I was like "c'est la vie"; 36 and dropping had me worried though, I must say. If it stabilises around 40 I'll be happy, anything else is a bonus.

[grizzlybear]

I feel sorry for all these unemployed folks - people who can't work from home like so many lucky people who post here may be able to do. Unemployment in Thailand is no joke - you starve.

[Benmart]

Numbers are subject to corruption, particularly in The Hub of Corruption.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Add the GDP I believe they said is down 6%?

Got to be more like 25% plus with 40 million tourists lost. 

Seems like a depression rather then a recession.

But spun into a "blip"

[nausea]

41 minutes ago, grizzlybear said:

Unemployment in Thailand is no joke - you starve

I must say, one of my favourite phrases praising Thailand was no-one starves, not even the soi dogs; guess I'm gonna have to change my mind on that one, given the stories regarding starving soi dogs; what's that saying:

 

"A dog starved at his master’s gate;

Predicts the ruin of the State."

 

I guess an impression gained during the "fat" years can be misleading. People talk about a quick rebound, lets just hope we're not going biblical - 7 "lean" years might be a bit much.

[vandeventer]

3 hours ago, grizzlybear said:

I feel sorry for all these unemployed folks - people who can't work from home like so many lucky people who post here may be able to do. Unemployment in Thailand is no joke - you starve.

That's why families are so close. The Thai's take their hardship without all the resentment. 

[Mark Evans]

Let’s assume these numbers are correct. 6 million unemployed plus 1.3 million University or College graduates with little to no hope of finding a job. I agree with that sentiment because apart from new hires not happening, it’s obvious that any start up or any new business that is considered a threat to the existing status quo of the ruling elite is crushed very quickly.

 

Add to that estimate above the unregistered people who worked in various informal roles like agriculture or construction, plus shadow sectors such as in the “entertainment” or “service” industries, in addition tourism related categories i.e. hospitality, transportation, maintenance, food, other support industries. Then the total figure of unemployed starts to reveal the inauspicious reality.

 

Some posters stated that there are approximately 38.7 million working age Thais (a quick search confirms that) so I’ll use that as a starting point. So if we speculate that the actual unemployment aggregate could be closer to 9 million then the real percentage rate is 23%. In the best-case scenario taking the published figures of 7.3 million, that’s still a very high unemployment rate of 19%.

 

Most western countries, except southern Europe, have managed to maintain an average unemployment rate of 5%, plus or minus 1. You could argue that’s only occurred because of massive QE or generous stimulus programmes that may or may not have severe consequences in the future. But unfortunately for the Thai people, especially those of the underprivileged class, it appears that their future is very bleak with high personal debt levels, almost non-existent stimulus incentives combined with a declining economy.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Mark Evans
Missed one category

[connda]

Six million Thais rendered jobless by COVID-19 pandemic

Six million and counting.  I'd say that number will double or triple before this is "over", but "experts" have pretty much promised this will never be over.  So the unemployed figures will rise though the year.

[Mavideol]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Moreover, Khempetch noted that most Thai workers do not have savings plans and, hence, do not have a nest-egg to rely upon if they are laid off.

I wouldn't say most Thai workers, it would be better to say the majority of Thai people don't have a clue about saving for any potential draw back

[connda]

Just now, Mark Evans said:

Most western countries, except southern Europe, have managed to maintain an average unemployment rate of 5%

Based on what?  Manipulated government statistics.  When the US government want's to keep numbers low, they change the reporting model.  Here - try this.  Note the difference between how the numbers were counted in 1992 (U6) and now.  When you have close to 100 million citizens not working (look at the homelessness in the US) and then say with a straight face, "Those people don't want to work", whose the government kidding.  Shadowstats estimate takes in account the unemployed who can no longer find work. You can find this number by extrapolating it from the BLS's Labor Participation Rate.

Source: http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts

Edited April 17, 2021 by connda

[Mark Evans]

13 minutes ago, connda said:

Based on what?  Manipulated government statistics.  When the US government want's to keep numbers low.

Of course all governments lie or cover up. They've turned fudging the numbers into an art form. Usually the under employed or casual workers with one hour per week are counted as "employed"  I used stats found online. So what's your point? 

[trainman34014]

6 hours ago, Excel said:

With a working age population currently of around 35,500,000 that represents a figure of  almost 17% unemployment, a staggering figure indeed from what once was called the Tiger economy of the 80s.  With no further government support for most of these people the  future is bleak indeed, and for their children.

And the dangers posed to the remaining Populace including ourselves is immense, as crime rates will innevitably rise and we will all become targets for those who have nothing !

[ThailandRyan]

33 minutes ago, connda said:

Based on what?  Manipulated government statistics.  When the US government want's to keep numbers low, they change the reporting model.  Here - try this.  Note the difference between how the numbers were counted in 1992 (U6) and now.  When you have close to 100 million citizens not working (look at the homelessness in the US) and then say with a straight face, "Those people don't want to work", whose the government kidding.  Shadowstats estimate takes in account the unemployed who can no longer find work. You can find this number by extrapolating it from the BLS's Labor Participation Rate.

Source: http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts

To answer this section of your post: "When you have close to 100 million citizens not working (look at the homelessness in the US) and then say with a straight face, "Those people don't want to work", whose the government kidding".  Here is the answer to that. 

With all of the free handouts given by the US Government, where you make more from those freebies, such as free food, free medical, unemployment, and food stamps, instead of working, why would you really want to go back to work in the US.  A real estate person I know was bringing in over 5k a month with all of the free handouts before actually starting to sell houses again in a very hot market now, and her husband was bringing in the same amount.  Prior to that they were maybe bringing in 6 to 7 K a months between them.  However, when your making more from the handouts that's why people will not work.  Are they counted in the unemployed numbers I would hope so but then as you indicated they may not be.

[ExpatOilWorker]

The sad part is that this shrinking labor pool is to shoulder an ever larger public debt pile plus their own growing household debt. 

Though time to be a hard working Somchai. 

 

[Soikhaonoiken]

And the Government should take full responsibility for this, 

[brian stoner]

I've gone into a local 7-11 masked, and seen clerks in it with no mask. No problem. Next day I go in with no mask and a different clerk shrieks at me for not wearing one.  If anything can cause a problem or spikes it is inconsistency of approach.

[nausea]

Six million is a big problem, the traditional solution would be to start a war. Solves all your problems in one stroke. The economy is revitalised, birth rates go through the roof, and all those problematic young men get sent to the slaughterhouse. 

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

Ridiculous inequality. Yet there's something to be learned from it.

 

The majority poor continue scraping while the hi-sos couldn't be better. At a certain big mall on the BKK outskirts, where I was not too long ago, I witnessed shopping carts loaded with bags of designer clothing, IKEA furniture and accessories, and 50" TVs wheeled out to brand new, red plated cars. But are they really any happier?

 

I couldn't be happier to be back out here in the Issan farmland, far, far away from such stress, attitudes, and needless consumerism. There's smiles abound from the fam here whenever we show up back from town, with a few kilos of pork, and several bottles of shampoo. ????‍♀️????