Thailand Faces Alarming Graduate Unemployment, 65% Struggle to Find Jobs

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

And yet Thailands government boasts a very low unemployment rate?

I wonder how that works?

 

This paper is a few years old, but I think the description of how the unemployment rate is calculated remains valid.

 

https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/wcmsp5/groups/public/@asia/@ro-bangkok/documents/publication/wcms_bk_pb_136_en.pdf

 

Basically, it is a combination of a generous description of what constitutes employment and the exclusion of those not actively seeking same.

[atpeace]

2 hours ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

 

This paper is a few years old, but I think the description of how the unemployment rate is calculated remains valid.

 

https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/wcmsp5/groups/public/@asia/@ro-bangkok/documents/publication/wcms_bk_pb_136_en.pdf

 

Basically, it is a combination of a generous description of what constitutes employment and the exclusion of those not actively seeking same.

So it is basically like the USA? Extremely confusing and probably somewhat accurate. 

 

  I think most can find jobs but would rather not do those jobs for numerous reasons.  After some period of time I think those that aren't working because of choice shouldn't be included in the unemployed number and that is why Thialand's official unemployment number is actually much lower than total unemployment that includes all "able" citizens regardless if they choose not to work.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

1 hour ago, atpeace said:

So it is basically like the USA? Extremely confusing and probably somewhat accurate. 

 

  I think most can find jobs but would rather not do those jobs for numerous reasons.  After some period of time I think those that aren't working because of choice shouldn't be included in the unemployed number and that is why Thialand's official unemployment number is actually much lower than total unemployment that includes all "able" citizens regardless if they choose not to work.

I suspect one complication is a large rural population and the difficulty of determining the number of people who may occasionally engage in gathering wood or performing similar tasks.

[UWEB]

18 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

 

Thailand's unemployment rate is painting a worrying picture for university graduates, with 65% unable to secure jobs. Long-term unemployment climbed by 16.2%, while a significant 71.3% of the unemployed have never held a job before, according to Danucha Pichayanan, Secretary-General of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC). The data, covering the third quarter of 2024, shows an employment landscape that, while stable, is fraught with challenges.

 

Despite having approximately 40 million people employed, this marks a slight drop of 0.1% from the previous year. The overall unemployment rate rose slightly to 1.02% from 0.99% in the previous quarter. Currently, the number of unemployed individuals averages 414,000, which is lower than the previous quarter's 429,000 but higher than the 401,000 from the same quarter last year.

 

When looking at educational levels, those with university degrees are hit the hardest, followed by high school and middle school graduates. Long-term unemployment, defined as being out of work for over a year, now affects 81,000 people, with 65% citing their main challenge as finding work. Alarmingly, nearly three-quarters of this group are young adults aged 20 to 29.

 

In the formal sector, the unemployment rate dropped to 1.82% from 1.93% last year. There are 74,000 individuals receiving unemployment benefits, with over 95% from the manufacturing sector.

 

 

Danucha emphasized that while the job market is stable, the struggles of graduates point to a need for targeted actions. Resolving unemployment issues requires a combined effort, involving educational reform, skill development, and industry partnerships.

 

The high unemployment among university graduates is particularly concerning, highlighting a mismatch between educational outcomes and job market demands. The rise in long-term unemployment underscores ongoing obstacles for young job seekers, who find it difficult to secure appropriate roles in a shifting economy.

 

This report comes amid broader economic challenges and prompts questions about the current job creation strategies' effectiveness and whether reforms in education or vocational training are needed to better align with industry demands.

 

File photo for reference only

 

-- 2024-11-26

 

 

May be it says something about the Quality of their graduation. The entire School System of Thailand has no quality at all, so why the Universities should be better.

My Wife also has a University Degree but still needs a Calculator to add more than two numbers.

[Rampant Rabbit]

4 hours ago, atpeace said:

Hmm, how to say this politely.  You have been here 20 years and find it almost impossible to find workers that do an adequate job.  You're either mentally challenged or Thais don't like you.  I have had some terrible experiences here over the last 20 years but they are the exception.  

Hmmmmmmmmmm how to answer, none so blind  that they cant see. Or lets  say "standards" vary between people. Most work here is crap. Oh and to the other poster commenting on language abiliuty, doesnt matter what language you speak it makes no difference to the outcome of the job..........Wife spends  all day trying to find workers to do jobs  let me find some pics of what she sends me of Thai repair work....its comical.... here few  weeks  ago workman fittined new hob............. the quality shines thru! but wait let me guess its my Wifes  fault for this almost weekly occurence, and that of her friends in the same line of  business and all the other lnadlords she's known over the last 20 years. No wait again , let me guess, you get what you pay for right..........so 1000 baht for fitting a  hob in a hole thats already there. Got it, I mean it is a whole hours work  after all ( sarcasm off)ok last try "would you work for 1000 baht  a day" yes  happily as its  not relevant, in the UK Id  be happy to get double the usual daily rate..........  neve r mind Im  sure they can do grouting right ......oops maybe not.........as an insight wife rents rooms out as do all her friends this is the " quality" they normally get. Three different rooms, the last "leaking" one had been "fixed" days before............yes  siliocne fixes everything in Thailand, the room this happened in they gave up an asked me to fix it, I told them silocone wont fix  it you need to retile your balcony which had been done by the developer  years ago " badly" nas in most cases Thai tiling whilst looking pwetty is not done well, tap all the tiles in your hosue and see how many are  hollow..........They asked me to strip and retile their balcony in the end , which I did for free as they were nieghbours in the same building. The tiles literally fell off their balcony My Re tiled photos, 30+ years on construction in the UK. all these photo just in the last few months but this goes on month after month. The  leak in the ceiling the office told them was !silicone" round the neighbour aboves windows so they neatly resealed it............I told the neighbour it was the balcony tiling that was <deleted>, and as soon as I ripped the floor out there was a great big  tennis  ball sized hole under the tiles into the room underneath letting in water with heavy rain on their balcony..........never mind the office " fixed" it with silicone..........except it did nothing.

But my personal favourite and outright winner for the year is the fitting of an extractor fan, the owner of this room wanted it through the ceiling or boxed in but got this,,, several attempts mistakes  later the brackets  really make it shine......what she requested was in the last photo of a kitchen I did boxed in with REd section highlighted........Oh yeah I have  nothing to do with this quality work but I send  my Wife photos of what she wants to show them before any work is done. grout etc Last shots the balcony I was asked to fix, tuiles  fell off, floor  jet washed, sealed with pva and retiled with proper tile adhesive not slop cement.....hole in corenr that was letting in water UNDER the loose  tiles, that according to " maintenance" was leak round window (NOT)

Edited 4 hours ago by Rampant Rabbit

[impulse]

16 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Over the years (20+) ive tried to find people to do almost  anything here   Id  say 90% are useless, probably the same with the uni graduates. Do everything myself mfor the last 15 odd  years, saves time , money and headaches.

 

We had an amazing team of competent Thai people working for our company in Bangkok and Songkhla.  International oil company.  Admittedly, we paid them well.  (Edit:  But still a tiny fraction of what we'd have to pay "back home" for the same jobs and performance). 

 

 If you can't find good ones, you may want to ask yourself why.

 

Of course, we'd get an occasional dud, but they didn't last long.  The competent Thai people didn't let them drag down the team.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by impulse

[Rampant Rabbit]

8 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

We had an amazing team of competent Thai people working for our company in Bangkok and Songkhla.  International oil company.  Admittedly, we paid them well.  (Edit:  But still a tiny fraction of what we'd have to pay "back home" for the same jobs and performance). 

 

 If you can't find good ones, you may want to ask yourself why.

 

Of course, we'd get an occasional dud, but they didn't last long.  The competent Thai people didn't let them drag down the team.

 

see above post

[atpeace]

6 minutes ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Hmmmmmmmmmm how to answer, none so blind  that they cant see. Or lets  say "standards" vary between people. Most work here is crap. Oh and to the other poster commenting on language abiliuty, doesnt matter what language you speak it makes no difference to the outcome of the job..........Wife spends  all day trying to find workers to do jobs  let me find some pics of what she sends me of Thai repair work....its comical.... here few  weeks  ago workman fittined new hob............. the quality shines thru! but wait let me guess its my Wifes  fault for this almost weekly occurence, and that of her friends in the same line of  business and all the other lnadlords she's known over the last 20 years. No wait again , let me guess, you get what you pay for right..........so 1000 baht for fitting a  hob in a hole thats already there. Got it, I mean it is a whole hours work  after all ( sarcasm off)ok last try "would you work for 1000 baht  a day" yes  happily as its  not relevant, in the UK Id  be happy to get double the usual daily rate..........  neve r mind Im  sure they can do grouting right ......oops maybe not.........as an insight wife rents rooms out as do all her friends this is the " quality" they normally get. Three different rooms, the last "leaking" one had been "fixed" days before............yes  siliocne fixes everything in Thailand, the room this happened in they gave up an asked me to fix it, I told them silocone wont fix  it you need to retile your balcony which had been done by the developer  years ago " badly" nas in most cases Thai tiling whilst looking pwetty is not done well, tap all the tiles in your hosue and see how many are  hollow..........They asked me to strip and retile their balcony in the end , which I did for free as they were nieghbours in the same building. The tiles literally fell off their balcony My Re tiled photos, 30+ years on construction in the UK. all these photo just in the last few months but this goes on month after month. The  leak in the ceiling the office told them was !silicone" round the neighbour aboves windows so they neatly resealed it............I told the neighbour it was the balcony tiling that was <deleted>, and as soon as I ripped the floor out there was a great big  tennis  ball sized hole under the tiles into the room underneath letting in water with heavy rain on their balcony..........never mind the office " fixed" it with silicone..........except it did nothing.

But my personal favourite and outright winner for the year is the fitting of an extractor fan, the owner of this room wanted it through the ceiling or boxed in but got this,,, several attempts mistakes  later the brackets  really make it shine......what she requested was in the last photo of a kitchen I did boxed in with REd section highlighted........Oh yeah I have  nothing to do with this quality work but I send  my Wife photos of what she wants to show them before any work is done. grout etc

Wow, you either have the worst luck or something else is happening that is more sinister. Either way that work is awful.  I've have had for the most part  experiences that are the opposite of you.  Guess I'm just extremely lucky. 

 

 I try to treat workers courteously and find them less likely to screw me over.  It has happened on a few occasions and I existed those relationships as gracefully as possible.  Don't want a bad rep when you are the minority.  Extremely hard to get a fare shake making your case when you are an outsider.  My wife, unlike yours, gets what she wants.  She pays too much IMO and is too nice but it works for her 🙂  She just added a patio roof and extended our patio into out pond while I was in America for a month as a surprise.  Lovely job and in the end cost only 5-10k more in labor than I would have paid.  She used her money so the extra cost were even easier to accept 🙂

 

Why did you let the workers complete the job?  Wasn't it obvious it was going to end badly.  I would have overpaid them at the beginning of the job and told them I decided to do it myself because I can't describe my needs. E.g., I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, here is X,000 baht and have a nice day. Last time I did this the three workers begged me to let them continue and did what I wanted. 

 

I get it, it is hard here to get exactly what you want but I would argue it is even harder in America dealing with subcontractors that will act like they are doing you a favor and don't take criticism lightly.

[Airalee]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

If you can't find good ones, you may want to ask yourself why.

Because we are not international oil companies.

 

 

[Airalee]

34 minutes ago, atpeace said:

Wow, you either have the worst luck or something else is happening that is more sinister. Either way that work is awful.  I've have had for the most part  experiences that are the opposite of you.  Guess I'm just extremely lucky. 

 

 I try to treat workers courteously and find them less likely to screw me over.  It has happened on a few occasions and I existed those relationships as gracefully as possible.  Don't want a bad rep when you are the minority.  Extremely hard to get a fare shake making your case when you are an outsider.  My wife, unlike yours, gets what she wants.  She pays too much IMO and is too nice but it works for her 🙂  She just added a patio roof and extended our patio into out pond while I was in America for a month as a surprise.  Lovely job and in the end cost only 5-10k more in labor than I would have paid.  She used her money so the extra cost were even easier to accept 🙂

 

Why did you let the workers complete the job?  Wasn't it obvious it was going to end badly.  I would have overpaid them at the beginning of the job and told them I decided to do it myself because I can't describe my needs. E.g., I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, here is X,000 baht and have a nice day. Last time I did this the three workers begged me to let them continue and did what I wanted. 

 

I get it, it is hard here to get exactly what you want but I would argue it is even harder in America dealing with subcontractors that will act like they are doing you a favor and don't take criticism lightly.

I had the same issues as Rampant when remodeling my condo and with his advice, I actually had to do a lot of the work myself.  It’s not easy finding competent tradesmen in Bangkok.

 

I let the hardwood flooring installers keep their money and did it myself.  
 

The guy cutting the caesarstone counters had previously been the installer for the counters in the new build.  Yes….I completely gutted a new construction condo.  I pointed out the screwups on his work in the unit next door to me and told him I would triple his daily wage if he didn’t make the same mistakes.  

[Ralf001]

Uni grads are typical 18+ years old ?

 

Ive some part time work they can help me with at my house !

[John Drake]

6 hours ago, john donson said:

my kids doing 'movie' stuff at BU wanting to be a DIRECTOR (woehahaha)

 

asked them before to study marketing to no avail

 

jobsdb,   ZERO jobs for movie related stuff

 

marketing 1000+

 

 

The film business in Thailand is a race to the bottom. So many "freelancers" out there willing to take almost any job at any price.

[Nick Carter icp]

8 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Uni grads are typical 18+ years old ?

 

Ive some part time work they can help me with at my house !

 

   You talking about prostitution ?

[Ralf001]

12 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   You talking about prostitution ?

nope, thats illegal.

[Nick Carter icp]

26 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

nope, thats illegal.

 

   What jobs are you going to offer them and what salary do you intend to pay ?

[thesetat2013]

Never fear folks... the Thaksins are back in charge and will fix everything. Another stimulus handout? Sure no problem. Come vote for them... 

 

The Thailand education system with their no-fail rule makes so that everyone has a degree even if they did not learn anything in school. Also, being this country is geared towards tourism so much that there are not many new opportunities open for anyone who recently graduated.. Then you have the problem of starting wages being so low. When the Thai do find work in their field they expect to get paid a lot. But noone pays alot for someone who passed their degree and perhaps knows nothing about it. It takes years to prove you can be an asset. Then you have those who accepted the job at minimal wages but the whole time they work they complain and seek other work paying more. They want those big bucks now even if they have not worked for it or earned it. 

[PETERTHEEATER]

10 hours ago, hotchilli said:

And yet Thailands government boasts a very low unemployment rate?

I wonder how that works?

They use the same formula as that for traffic deaths. 😋

[atpeace]

2 hours ago, Airalee said:

I had the same issues as Rampant when remodeling my condo and with his advice, I actually had to do a lot of the work myself.  It’s not easy finding competent tradesmen in Bangkok.

 

I let the hardwood flooring installers keep their money and did it myself.  
 

The guy cutting the caesarstone counters had previously been the installer for the counters in the new build.  Yes….I completely gutted a new construction condo.  I pointed out the screwups on his work in the unit next door to me and told him I would triple his daily wage if he didn’t make the same mistakes.  

You should try in America.  If you can find a person willing to do the work for a price that will make you tear up consider yourself lucky.  There is a good chance they will do an OK job.  What a Thai considers perfection and what westerners consider are obviously not the same as a whole. What Rampant experienced was unacceptable but I still wonder how all his projects were a disaster.  Were they supervised?  If you want a job done different than the locals do on a normal basis, then expect to invest some of your time supervising.

 

I'm currently living in a home with dangerous electrical wiring.  The crew that built the house were great but the electrical subcontractor was a despicable person.  He put the wires in the walls like I instructed but used tiny wires to increase his profits.  That is going to be extremely difficult to fix because the wires are in the walls.  Yes, I'm pissed but shtt happens.  I'm currently in the process of rewiring the hot water heaters and the oven outlet to avoid a fire or worse.  

 

 

[Ralf001]

1 hour ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   What jobs are you going to offer them and what salary do you intend to pay ?

 

Are you are uni grad looking for work ?

[Airalee]

30 minutes ago, atpeace said:

You should try in America.  If you can find a person willing to do the work for a price that will make you tear up consider yourself lucky.  There is a good chance they will do an OK job.  What a Thai considers perfection and what westerners consider are obviously not the same as a whole. What Rampant experienced was unacceptable but I still wonder how all his projects were a disaster.  Were they supervised?  If you want a job done different than the locals do on a normal basis, then expect to invest some of your time supervising.

 

I'm currently living in a home with dangerous electrical wiring.  The crew that built the house were great but the electrical subcontractor was a despicable person.  He put the wires in the walls like I instructed but used tiny wires to increase his profits.  That is going to be extremely difficult to fix because the wires are in the walls.  Yes, I'm pissed but shtt happens.  I'm currently in the process of rewiring the hot water heaters and the oven outlet to avoid a fire or worse.  

 

 

My experience was that I would hire a contractor for a specific job (painting for example)….they would then subcontract it to someone else who would then further subcontract it to a supervisor and workers.  It was absolutely ridiculous.  I went through 4 different painting crews that didn’t even have a notion of painting in a straight line and not slopping it on window frames and door frames that were a different color.  I did my best job supervising but my (now ex) girlfriend would chastise me for doing so.  One of the workers literally told her the following day that he was so stressed that he couldn’t even eat that night….and of course, it was all my fault 🤦‍♂️.

 

There wasn’t a single thing in my 2 million baht renovation that wasn’t a complete snafu.  From the painting, to the flooring, the kitchen, the countertops, the electrical….all of it.

 

I think that when you have the lowest iq people doing the work at the bottom of a chain of people taking their cut, you basically have monkeys doing the job.  Even trying to supervise them directly and showing YouTube videos of how a job is supposed to be done correctly I would be told “This is not how we do this in Thailand”. And when there would be times that they would say “yes…I understand”….they would then just continue as usual.   That is when Rampant told me that it’s just best to do the job myself.  In the end, with so many re-dos of things that I couldn’t do myself (such as the countertops that had to be replaced, wiring redone, etc etc….I doubt there was very much profit in it for anyone.

 

So…what does this have to do with university grads who can’t find jobs?   They should go into the trades and do things right the first time and at a level of quality (that requires some amount of intelligence/IQ) to where they can actually make better money…and much better than being a desk jockey where they probably don’t contribute much and have little job satisfaction.   Wishful thinking I’m sure because any manual labor is “low class” which is why you see them grow their pinky fingernails long as a sign that they don’t work with their hands.

 

Back in the US, I renovated a mid century modern doing the lions share of the work myself and I agree….the people who worked with me were for the most part useless with the exception of one contractor who lived in the neighborhood who would actually come, look at a job…and if it was something he thought I could do myself, he would recommend I do so.

Edited 20 minutes ago by Airalee

[Nick Carter icp]

3 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Are you are uni grad looking for work ?

 

   No, I m not . 

What work are you offering and what is the salary ?

[Ralf001]

2 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   No, I m not . 

 

None of your bussiness then, go annoy someone else.

[Nick Carter icp]

3 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

None of your bussiness then, go annoy someone else.

 

  Now come one, you were making an  unfunny joke about offering unemployed Uni girls money for sex , 

  

[Ralf001]

3 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

  Now come one, you were making an  unfunny joke about offering unemployed Uni girls money for sex , 

  

 

where in any of my posts in this thread have i mentioned girls and sex ?