Grim Employment Prospects Loom Over Thailand

[impulse]

8 minutes ago, Ben Zioner said:

By my standards half the males are unemployed in LOS.

 

I think they count the guys scrounging water bottles to recycle for <100 baht a day as "employed".

 

[steven100]

If you go to Thaiwatsadu or Home Pro or other big stores you will see more staff than shoppers. 

 

Way too many staff would be eating into their bottom line $$$  and thereby lowering their profit margin,  it's a recipe for disaster. 

[Ralf001]

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

 

I don't believe this  .....   this is not in line with Thai labour law requirements.  They would be breaking the law.

 

someone is telling porkies .... 

yes, I do believe ikke1959 is telling porkies.

I suggest you direct your post to him/her as I did not post what you quoted.

[HappyExpat57]

21 hours ago, watchcat said:

 

Almost all cars are on credit.

Remember some years back that "million new cars" project Thailand did? A friend of mine sells cars, and about a year after that project hit the road, his business tanked due to all the defaulted cars that hit the market.

[Ralf001]

6 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

Remember some years back that "million new cars" project Thailand did? A friend of mine sells cars, and about a year after that project hit the road, his business tanked due to all the defaulted cars that hit the market.

 

First time car buyer scheme?

 

Yeah, that was a Bt.100,000 tax refund if the purchased vehicle had an RRP of Bt. 1,000,000 or less.

 

Majority of defaults is down to the finance companies not ensuring the loan applicant met their lending criteria.

[HappyExpat57]

9 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

First time car buyer scheme?

 

Yeah, that was a Bt.100,000 tax refund if the purchased vehicle had an RRP of Bt. 1,000,000 or less.

 

Majority of defaults is down to the finance companies not ensuring the loan applicant met their lending criteria.

Same thing with the NINJA loans the US allowed which led to the housing bubble crash.

[LittleBear57]

19 hours ago, watchcat said:

 

Isn't this normal ?

 

 

2 hours ago, steven100 said:

 

Why oh why do you have to bring the US into this article  ?

it's solely about Thailand's unemployment ....   nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the US Costco business model.

 

The problem here is different,   the big shops like your Tesco, Big C, Power Buys, Home Pro etc ...  employ far too many staff .... they could cut them by 50% and still have them standing around doing nothing.

 

The problem here is consumer numbers are down, they are the worst numbers ever recorded except when COVID-19 was in progress. 

The Thai people and expats are spending less,  so if no customers then staff are not required. 

As an expat here. I am bringing over less money now, not because I'm poorer or the exchange rate is bad. Just watching and waiting on the tax situation. Spending more of my money on holidays outside of Thailand.  Laos and Vietnam gain at Thailands expense. 

I can't be the only one .

Agree many shops always seem over staffed, not sure about Big C or Makro as there is never anyone on our check outs, in Sattahip.

[jcmj]

They waste too much money on face. Look at my new car, house, designer bags, the music festival I just went to, etc. then they claim they have no money to pay for food and regular bills. Obviously there are many that can’t even afford that, but there are plenty of people making a decent salary that have no idea how to budget. Schools have to stop the no fail system and the teachers need a better salary and education themselves in order to teach. Good luck 

[spidermike007]

On 3/17/2025 at 9:41 AM, ikke1959 said:

If you look around there is not so much poverty as they claim.. Everybody has work, drives in n ice cars, with many holidays, and crackdown on foreign workers, which are already very difficult to find as work permits and the labour protection prevents people to come and work. and be fair.. there are teachers or classroom assistents who have to work for 8000 THB a month.. No wonder they hardly can get anybody. Last month there was a job available for a foreign teacher, who had to be fully classified and work in a school for 5000 THB a month.. Foreigners will line up for jobs like this. Anyway.. the companies don't want to pay more because of the profit, but with less income and rising prices people can't buy much and the companies are compensating it with higher prices as their profit is most important and people buy less and and so everything is going down and down... The greed will destroy  

Sounds like you've been spending too much time on the Sukhumvit area Bangkok. I see a lot of people who are just skating by, and keeping the belts very tight, not spending money on luxuries, not buying new cars, not replacing old motorbikes, and not buying homes at this point.

 

So you do not seem to be attuned to where the economy is right now. 

[spidermike007]

Though I do expect the baht to dip, trade tensions are just a small part of the equation. The economy here is in tatters, and it is still suffering from 10 years of the Prayuth Decimation. The debt is higher than it's ever been, the banks are being very stingy with loans at this point because the default rates are so high, the new car market has stalled, property sales are very slow, and exports are dropping, so the problems are numerous. 

 

As if those problems weren't enough, though the tourist arrival numbers are high, the quality of tourists continues to drop, and the amount that the average tourist is spending continues to drop, so the total revenue being brought in from tourism is significantly less than it was pre-covid. 

 

I could go on. A message to the young PM. You might as well stop with the lies because nobody believes you anymore. 

 

 

 

[NorthernRyland]

Thai's are up to their eyeballs in debts. Most of us arrived in this period where household debt has risen 40%, giving the appearance that Thailand was developing naturally. Not the case however and they appear to have reached the end of this cycle and will be treading water for a while.

 

 

 

[ikke1959]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Sounds like you've been spending too much time on the Sukhumvit area Bangkok. I see a lot of people who are just skating by, and keeping the belts very tight, not spending money on luxuries, not buying new cars, not replacing old motorbikes, and not buying homes at this point.

 

So you do not seem to be attuned to where the economy is right now. 

There is more Thailand than Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai...I live in a rural area and I see what is going on.. just a few moment ago a boy probably P6 is riding a brand new motorcycle.

 

[newnative]

    As always, just talk.  Stop talking and crash into action.  Had a big laugh with the statement regarding switching to teaching languages other than English---they're not even doing English well--always at the very bottom of ASEAN rankings.  Knowing English is and always will be the most important skill for the Thai workforce, especially in an economy with a large tourist component.  

[whiteman]

On 3/17/2025 at 8:45 PM, Mr Meeseeks said:

 

All paid for on the never-never.

 

Nobody walks in and pays cash for a car here and I mean nobody.

 

I did 11 years ago for my new Mec 250c

[steven100]

The problem here is the big shops like your Tesco, Big C, Power Buys, Home Pro etc ...  employ far too many staff .... they could cut them by 50% and still have them standing around doing nothing.

 

The problem here is consumer numbers are down, they are the worst numbers ever recorded except when COVID-19 was in progress. 

The Thai people and expats are spending less,  so if no customers then staff are not required. 

[thesetat]

On 3/17/2025 at 12:16 PM, ikke1959 said:

No need.. I live in the rural area and I see poverty.. and the worst even is that today we heard that employees in Tops here are being paid by day 350 THB.. holiday or day off no payment... In almost all countries they use monthly payment.. Why not in Thailand. pay everybody at least 13k a month working not more than 9 hours a day and with at least 1 day off not included the official holidays...Than still don't earn much but it would do the economy much better than keeping them on 350 THB a day .... Holidays are paid and see what will happen... 70% of the holidays will be cancelled.. also much better for the economy

I disagree about being paid monthly wages with holidays paid for around the world.. Even in the US they only reserve salaries monthly with paid holidays in managerial positions or executive positions. The average workers get paid hourly, get a 2 week holiday per year after working there for one full year, and are only paid for certain holidays if their position does not require them to work on that holiday. 

[Ralf001]

16 minutes ago, thesetat said:

I disagree about being paid monthly wages with holidays paid for around the world.. Even in the US they only reserve salaries monthly with paid holidays in managerial positions or executive positions. The average workers get paid hourly, get a 2 week holiday per year after working there for one full year, and are only paid for certain holidays if their position does not require them to work on that holiday. 

 

Thai labor for full time employees.

Monthly pay.

6 day work week.

13 paid public holiday per year.

6 days paid annual leave per year.

30 days paid sick leave per year.