Jobless Numbers Up And Could Go Higher: Thailand

[Nisa]

http://en.wikipedia....ent#Measurement

As defined by the International Labour Organization, "unemployed workers" are those who are currently not working but are willing and able to work for pay, currently available to work, and have actively searched for work.^[28] Individuals who are actively seeking job placement must make the effort to: be in contact with an employer, have job interviews, contact job placement agencies, send out resumes, submit applications, respond to advertisements, or some other means of active job searching within the prior four weeks. Simply looking at advertisements and not responding will not count as actively seeking job placement. Since not all unemployment may be "open" and counted by government agencies, official statistics on unemployment may not be accurate.^[29]

Since not all unemployment may be "open" and counted by government agencies, official statistics on unemployment may not be accurate.^[29]

Did you notice the one sentence you copied from my post has a source link and it refers to part time workers. Yes, unemployment rates considers people who are part time workers as being employed even if they are seeking full time work. If you want to speak about those stats, they are called underemployed rates and usually extremely low.

Again, not sure why there is such an effort on your part to discredit and purposely try to not understand what an unemployment rate measures but what is clear to me is you don't want to get it and there isn't much reason for me to try to enlighten you.

[Nisa]

English Proficiency Index

http://www.ef.com/epi/ef-epi-ranking/

1 Norway 69.09 Very High Proficiency

2 Netherlands 67.93 Very High Proficiency

3 Denmark 66.58 Very High Proficiency

4 Sweden 66.26 Very High Proficiency

5 Finland 61.25 Very High Proficiency

6 Austria 58.58 High Proficiency

7 Belgium 57.23 High Proficiency

8 Germany 56.64 High Proficiency

9 Malaysia 55.54 High Proficiency

10 Poland 54.62 Moderate Proficiency

11 Switzerland 54.60 Moderate Proficiency

12 Hong Kong 54.44 Moderate Proficiency

13 South Korea 54.19 Moderate Proficiency

14 Japan 54.17 Moderate Proficiency

15 Portugal 53.62 Moderate Proficiency

16 Argentina 53.49 Moderate Proficiency

17 France 53.16 Moderate Proficiency

18 Mexico 51.48 Moderate Proficiency

19 Czech Republic 51.31 Moderate Proficiency

20 Hungary 50.80 Moderate Proficiency

21 Slovakia 50.64 Moderate Proficiency

22 Costa Rica 49.15 Low Proficiency

23 Italy 49.05 Low Proficiency

24 Spain 49.01 Low Proficiency

25 Taiwan 48.93 Low Proficiency

26 Saudi Arabia 48.05 Low Proficiency

27 Guatemala 47.80 Low Proficiency

28 El Salvador 47.65 Low Proficiency

29 China 47.62 Low Proficiency

30 India 47.35 Low Proficiency

31 Brazil 47.27 Low Proficiency

32 Russia 45.79 Low Proficiency

33 Dominican Republic 44.91 Very Low Proficiency

34 Indonesia 44.78 Very Low Proficiency

35 Peru 44.71 Very Low Proficiency

36 Chile 44.63 Very Low Proficiency

37 Ecuador 44.54 Very Low Proficiency

38 Venezuela 44.43 Very Low Proficiency

39 Vietnam 44.32 Very Low Proficiency

40 Panama 43.62 Very Low Proficiency

41 Colombia 42.77 Very Low Proficiency

42 Thailand 39.41 Very Low Proficiency

43 Turkey 37.66 Very Low Proficiency

44 Kazakhstan 31.74 Very Low Proficiency

I guess with all the foreigner in the US & UK that they don't even rate for English proficiency

Edited August 28, 2012 by Nisa

[khunPer]

»And up to 17 million Thais drink alcohol and about 14.6 million are smokers.«

Hmm?

The previous news flash - Young Thais' Emotional Quotient needs remedies - says:

»Young smokers comprise almost 15 million smokers — 14.8 per cent aged 14 to 24 years — or an increase of 0.2 per cent from last year.«

How can only 14.6 million Thais smoke, when almost 15 million 14-24 yo. are smokers?

[kimamey]

Unemployment up because of increased minimum wage - who would have imagined it? But I'm sure the unemployed are happy with the higher wage they are not getting.

"NESDB noted that a survey conducted earlier this year showed about one million Thai children were depressed and annoyed for unknown reasons."

One of the annoyances might be answering stupid survey questions.

Correct.

Minimum wages should be drop to 99 Baht/day (12 hours works with 30 min lunch and convenience break).

I swear TV needs an IQ test

Well I hope you like talking to yourself then.

[HUAHIN62]

Now let me see mnn ....

The US have 23 mil unemployed +- 15% if you include the people that have given up looking for work (+-7%) and the ones still receiving unemployment benefits (8,3%).

Europe's unemployment figure is now at 11% with Spain and Greece at 25%.

AND Thailands' unemployment figured soared with 0,25% to 0,85%. LOL

Some people only see in shades of yellow.

[geriatrickid]

who did not predict this on TV ?

wait until they get spanish unemployment numbers at 25%...

thailand will become more and more law-less

add corruption and greed

and you got ...

An unemployment rate of 0.85 per cent

Hello?

This falls into the realm of full employment and is the envy of most nations. Please tell me which developed nation has an unemployment rate this low?

Thailand has a labour shortage, not a surplus.

Apparently, none of the critics on this thread comprehends the key point.

There is no soaring unemployment and there are no masses of unemployed . Thailand has always suffered from the condition termed underemployment and inefficiency because its labour practices depended upon cheap unskilled labour.

[geriatrickid]

Nice work Yingluck. Truly a woman of power who delivers what she promises. Or so says Forbes magazine. So the rich get richer and the poor get the picture yet again.

You do realize that the low number of 0.85% in the wake of massive damage to the national infrastructure is beyond the achievement of developed nations, don't you? After hurricane Katrina struck the USA., the afflicted region suffered double digit unemployment for a year. If you want to give her credit for one of the lowest unemployment rates around, go for it, but I don't think she deserves all the credit.

[Thai at Heart]

who did not predict this on TV ?

wait until they get spanish unemployment numbers at 25%...

thailand will become more and more law-less

add corruption and greed

and you got ...

An unemployment rate of 0.85 per cent

Hello?

This falls into the realm of full employment and is the envy of most nations. Please tell me which developed nation has an unemployment rate this low?

Thailand has a labour shortage, not a surplus.

Apparently, none of the critics on this thread comprehends the key point.

There is no soaring unemployment and there are no masses of unemployed . Thailand has always suffered from the condition termed underemployment and inefficiency because its labour practices depended upon cheap unskilled labour.

This should of course force the wage rate to increase (which they just mandated), unless of course you can officially import more labour and screw your very own population.

Thailand, the land of economic contradictions.

A number of 0.? as an unemployment is completely incomparable to any other system of calculating unemployment anywhere in the world. It is as relevant as walking through an apple orchard trying to calculate how big the orange crop is this year.

[Fgis]

GOOD ! Soon Thai will start to care about their job and care about us when we are customers...

I wish the rate go higher faster !

[JanKlaasen]

Nice work Yingluck. Truly a woman of power who delivers what she promises. Or so says Forbes magazine. So the rich get richer and the poor get the picture yet again.

You do realize that the low number of 0.85% in the wake of massive damage to the national infrastructure is beyond the achievement of developed nations, don't you? After hurricane Katrina struck the USA., the afflicted region suffered double digit unemployment for a year. If you want to give her credit for one of the lowest unemployment rates around, go for it, but I don't think she deserves all the credit.

But according to Nisa the unempoyment rate is so low because people WHO DON"T WANT TO WORK are not included in these figures,and this is accepted worldwide.

So what would happen if the Thais would actually come off their lazy bum, exit the snooker centers and internet cafes, and started looking for a job.

The unemployment figures would be a nightmare, not?

[Nisa]

GOOD ! Soon Thai will start to care about their job and care about us when we are customers...

I wish the rate go higher faster !

With that attitude it is shocking you get any service.

[Thai at Heart]

Nice work Yingluck. Truly a woman of power who delivers what she promises. Or so says Forbes magazine. So the rich get richer and the poor get the picture yet again.

You do realize that the low number of 0.85% in the wake of massive damage to the national infrastructure is beyond the achievement of developed nations, don't you? After hurricane Katrina struck the USA., the afflicted region suffered double digit unemployment for a year. If you want to give her credit for one of the lowest unemployment rates around, go for it, but I don't think she deserves all the credit.

But according to Nisa the unempoyment rate is so low because people WHO DON"T WANT TO WORK are not included in these figures,and this is accepted worldwide.

So what would happen if the Thais would actually come off their lazy bum, exit the snooker centers and internet cafes, and started looking for a job.

The unemployment figures would be a nightmare, not?

Well this is the issue. The measurement of the statistics doesn't reveal reality in the employment market. There is a shortage of minimum wage employees, but to say that 0.6% is a reasonable measure for the entire economy might make you feel good, but it doesn't provide the right data to set the development policy for the country.

[Nisa]

Now let me see mnn ....

The US have 23 mil unemployed +- 15% if you include the people that have given up looking for work (+-7%) and the ones still receiving unemployment benefits (8,3%).

Europe's unemployment figure is now at 11% with Spain and Greece at 25%.

AND Thailands' unemployment figured soared with 0,25% to 0,85%. LOL

Some people only see in shades of yellow.

Why not take off the racists shades and educate yourself on the economic factors here and labor force. Even in Europe, Germany's unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in 20+ years. Then you have Vietnam, Norway, Cambodia, Switzerland, Loas and Malaysia also having recently had unemployment rates 3% or under.

[bangsaenguy]

"Learn Malay" Or as it is known in the deep south Yawi. Why not English so they can communicate with the world?

If the jobs they want to do requires knowing Malay, then it would be pointless learning English. It is almost impossible for Thais to get a job in english speaking countries, so it would mostly be a waste of their time.

Nonsense. Thais have limited opportunities bacsue of their limited English skills. The Middle East is full of Filipinos earning good moeny because they speak English.

[Chupup]

http://en.wikipedia....ent#Measurement

As defined by the International Labour Organization, "unemployed workers" are those who are currently not working but are willing and able to work for pay, currently available to work, and have actively searched for work.^[28] Individuals who are actively seeking job placement must make the effort to: be in contact with an employer, have job interviews, contact job placement agencies, send out resumes, submit applications, respond to advertisements, or some other means of active job searching within the prior four weeks. Simply looking at advertisements and not responding will not count as actively seeking job placement. Since not all unemployment may be "open" and counted by government agencies, official statistics on unemployment may not be accurate.^[29]

Since not all unemployment may be "open" and counted by government agencies, official statistics on unemployment may not be accurate.^[29]

Did you notice the one sentence you copied from my post has a source link and it refers to part time workers. Yes, unemployment rates considers people who are part time workers as being employed even if they are seeking full time work. If you want to speak about those stats, they are called underemployed rates and usually extremely low.

Again, not sure why there is such an effort on your part to discredit and purposely try to not understand what an unemployment rate measures but what is clear to me is you don't want to get it and there isn't much reason for me to try to enlighten you.

So WHY do you keep on, whynot just drop it ?

[Chupup]

Nice work Yingluck. Truly a woman of power who delivers what she promises. Or so says Forbes magazine. So the rich get richer and the poor get the picture yet again.

You do realize that the low number of 0.85% in the wake of massive damage to the national infrastructure is beyond the achievement of developed nations, don't you? After hurricane Katrina struck the USA., the afflicted region suffered double digit unemployment for a year. If you want to give her credit for one of the lowest unemployment rates around, go for it, but I don't think she deserves all the credit.

Hey GK i think the quoted post was meant to be taken as tongue in cheek

[Pib]

Per Post #30, English proficiency in Thailand as a whole is definitely very low. Of course there are locations in Thailand like areas in central Bangkok, Pattaya, etc., where Thai's who interface with many English speaking farangs on a daily basis have basic English speaking & understanding skills, but as a whole when you are not in one of these limited locations, like here in western Bangkok where I live, the English proficiency is very low to pratically non-existent. But hey, my proficiency in reading & writing Thai is close to zero and only fair in understanding & speaking it. Thank goodness for Google Translate in trying to read Thai on the internet...at least Google Translate converts Thai to rough/in-the-ballpark English where I can usually figure out what is being said.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Pib

[Nisa]

The ramifications of poor strategic management. Populist policies gets votes and shafts the economy and country very quickly. Raising minimum wages, food prices all but doubling, small businesses go broke fast. As SME's tend to employ the lower educated (manual labour) if they get turfed the real crisis begins. Fuel up, food up, housing down, over governance etc, all contribute to failure. But educating in Malay - what a ridiculous statement. Government still trying to keep Thais in the dark as to what is happening in the real world...

Factor in the fact that 61% of the labor force in this whorehouse is in agricultural and tourism, Thailand is no longer the number one rice exporter, Burma and Vietnam are opening up as tourist destinations, the complete lack of motivation to change or learn English, the flood factor, over building of condo's on easy credit and, well simply, you need a good white lie, and a prayer, to keep the people in order! So your not just "saying something"!

Call the above "sentence run on", but I got three, and a wake up!!

I'm not sure where you are getting this from. Agriculture makes up near 40% but tourism doesn't make up 20+%. Agriculture has been on the decline for years while Manufacturing and Service industries has been on the rise. As for unemployment overall, it has also been on a decline the last 20-years in Thailand but during this time it has overall remained low.

In 1994 Agriculture made up near 70% of the workforce and it now around 40% while Manufacturing jobs have doubled in this time. I have never seen (but would be curious to see) a breakout of percentage of workforce in the Tourism Industry because it is included in the service industry which covers a broad range of services including banking and financing.

As for Tourism itself, it has also been on the rise for decades and both foreign and domestic tourism makes about about 6.5% of GDP. If I recall correctly about 40% of this is from domestic tourism and more than 1/2 of foreign tourists are from the Asian region.

[khunron13]

Well done, PTP!

[Lite Beer]

A post containing a derogatory comment has been deleted.

[ttelise]

GDP per capita tells the real story here. Sorry, has nothing to do with like or dislike of Thailand. These figures are questionable especially consisting GDP per capita. There are many great things about Thailand, a strong economy is not one of them. The standard of living for a lot of Thais is very low. Families hoeing daughters out to make it where they don't have to work. 15 or 16 year old bar girls and children working in the sex trade so families don't have to work. Thai chicks making old geezers feel wanted so they and there families don't have to work. Haha, you guys are whistling zipee de do dah out your butts. Thai is awesome place to party and spend a super cheap month, see some great sites eat some good food, but telling yourself Thailand is a powerhouse economically . . . Zipity dae.

Edited August 29, 2012 by ttelise

[Nisa]

GDP per capita tells the real story here. Sorry, has nothing to do with like or dislike of Thailand. These figures are questionable especially consisting GDP per capita. There are many great things about Thailand, a strong economy is not one of them. The standard of living for a lot of Thais is very low. Families hoeing daughters out to make it where they don't have to work. 15 or 16 year old bar girls and children working in the sex trade so families don't have to work. Thai chicks making old geezers feel wanted so they and there families don't have to work. Haha, you guys are whistling zipee de do dah out your butts. Thai is awesome place to party and spend a super cheap month, see some great sites eat some good food, but telling yourself Thailand is a powerhouse economically . . . Zipity dae.

Sounds like it has been a long time since you have been here. Thailand has the second largest economy is SE Asia and up until last year, due to the floods, had one of the fastest growing economies in the region. As this thread mentions, it also has been blessed with an incredibly low unemployment rate. Thailand is considered a Newly Industrialized nation and to compare wages and quality of living to first world nations is ridiculous. You measure a country like this in terms of growth and improvements and in most all economic areas Thailand is considered doing incredibly well. As per GDP per capita, Thailand rates in the top 50% (just above China) when compared to all countries. Near 50% of GDP comes from industry and manufacturing about 70% from exports. Thailand has fared very well during the global economic meltdown with construction booming and wages increasing along with literacy and a decline in those living below the poverty level.

There is no country without problems and Thailand is no exception but when it comes to most economic factors Thailand has been a leader when it comes to growth for a long time with the exception of few off years such as the flooding and Asian Economic crisis. In fact, I believe no economy in the world grew as fast as Thailand did prior to 97 and as mentioned already it has been on a rapid growth pace since the turn of the century.

[ttelise]

Nisa, Nisa, Niss,

Thailand is below Mexico. I think Japan and Korea are 3 or 4 times higher GDP per capita and isn't Malaysia like 2 times higher. Hong Kong gotta be 5 or 6 times higher.

Look at countries below Thailand in GDP per capita. I bet lots of little African countries, Eastern European and Islands. Not good company.

How do you know I am not in Thailand right now. I spent 3 months back and forth between there and Bali less than a year ago.

Edited August 29, 2012 by ttelise

[Sayonarax]

GDP per capita tells the real story here. Sorry, has nothing to do with like or dislike of Thailand. These figures are questionable especially consisting GDP per capita. There are many great things about Thailand, a strong economy is not one of them. The standard of living for a lot of Thais is very low. Families hoeing daughters out to make it where they don't have to work. 15 or 16 year old bar girls and children working in the sex trade so families don't have to work. Thai chicks making old geezers feel wanted so they and there families don't have to work. Haha, you guys are whistling zipee de do dah out your butts. Thai is awesome place to party and spend a super cheap month, see some great sites eat some good food, but telling yourself Thailand is a powerhouse economically . . . Zipity dae.

Well since you don't live here you don't have to worry. Your telling us something we already know..

[Sayonarax]

Nisa, Nisa, Niss,

Thailand is below Mexico. I think Japan and Korea are 3 or 4 times higher GDP per capita and isn't Malaysia like 2 times higher. Hong Kong gotta be 5 or 6 times higher.

Look at countries below Thailand in GDP per capita. I bet lots of little African countries, Eastern European and Islands. Not good company.

How do you know I am not in Thailand right now. I spent 3 months back and forth between there and Bali less than a year ago.

Another drifter who claims to live here. People who actually live here tend to own a tabbin bahn.

[ttelise]

Nisa, Nisa, Niss,

Thailand is below Mexico. I think Japan and Korea are 3 or 4 times higher GDP per capita and isn't Malaysia like 2 times higher. Hong Kong gotta be 5 or 6 times higher.

Look at countries below Thailand in GDP per capita. I bet lots of little African countries, Eastern European and Islands. Not good company.

How do you know I am not in Thailand right now. I spent 3 months back and forth between there and Bali less than a year ago.

Another drifter who claims to live here. People who actually live here tend to own a tabbin bahn.

Drifter. Claim to live there. What are you talking about? I would not live in Thailand right now and I practice law in US. I just go to Bali to surf. My Russian wife meets friends and family in Thailand.

I am not bashing Thailand. Does not matter to me if rate is 1 percent or 10 percent. My point was Thai data is suspect and a very low GDP per capita is a bit inconsistent with full employment

GDP per capita is perhaps as better gauge as to standard of living. According to recent reports the GDP is over stated by Thailand so no reason not suspect unemployment rate is also underreported. Just more "white lies" to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy.

Edited August 29, 2012 by ttelise

[OzMick]

Again, not sure why there is such an effort on your part to discredit and purposely try to not understand what an unemployment rate measures but what is clear to me is you don't want to get it and there isn't much reason for me to try to enlighten you.

I'm not sure if you are unaware that you are being fed <deleted>, or if you like the taste.

My g/f is unemployed. There is no government assistance, financial or to help her find a job. The type of work she seeks is unlikely to be advertised in a newspaper. So how is her unemployment registered and/or entered into statistics? How do millions of other minimum wage un-employees get counted?

On another tack, why are there hundreds of thousands of small businesses which barely supply the owner with a living? And of course, these people are employed.

Edited August 29, 2012 by OzMick

[jcw]

»And up to 17 million Thais drink alcohol and about 14.6 million are smokers.«

Hmm?

The previous news flash - Young Thais' Emotional Quotient needs remedies - says:

»Young smokers comprise almost 15 million smokers — 14.8 per cent aged 14 to 24 years — or an increase of 0.2 per cent from last year.«

How can only 14.6 million Thais smoke, when almost 15 million 14-24 yo. are smokers?

Ezy, just use fraud or a white Lie

[Thai at Heart]

Again, not sure why there is such an effort on your part to discredit and purposely try to not understand what an unemployment rate measures but what is clear to me is you don't want to get it and there isn't much reason for me to try to enlighten you.

I'm not sure if you are unaware that you are being fed <deleted>, or if you like the taste.

My g/f is unemployed. There is no government assistance, financial or to help her find a job. The type of work she seeks is unlikely to be advertised in a newspaper. So how is her unemployment registered and/or entered into statistics? How do millions of other minimum wage un-employees get counted?

On another tack, why are there hundreds of thousands of small businesses which barely supply the owner with a living? And of course, these people are employed.

One could take the view that standing in for example home pro pestering people to buy water heaters represents the being 'barely' employed also.

The unemployment numbers in Thailand are impossible to compare to more developed countries because they are basically bunkum.

[Nisa]

Again, not sure why there is such an effort on your part to discredit and purposely try to not understand what an unemployment rate measures but what is clear to me is you don't want to get it and there isn't much reason for me to try to enlighten you.

I'm not sure if you are unaware that you are being fed <deleted>, or if you like the taste.

My g/f is unemployed. There is no government assistance, financial or to help her find a job. The type of work she seeks is unlikely to be advertised in a newspaper. So how is her unemployment registered and/or entered into statistics? How do millions of other minimum wage un-employees get counted?

For gods sake .. I have covered this numerous times and a simple internet search will provide you with the answers you seek, The accepted way to figure Unemployment Rates in a country has absolutely nothing to do with government assistance or being registered with the government for work.

When you read about number of people who smoke ... do you really think they poll every person in the country? Surveys and polls are conducted be it in the US, UK or Thailand as a way to measure the number of people who are actively seeking work (not sitting around hoping a job comes there way) but have not found a job.

Thailand has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world and there is no credible government or entity that I am aware that disputes this and in fact all of them that I am aware understand and accept this. Again simply do a little research.

The proper come back would be how all the jobs here are crap and low paying and a bunch of lazy Thais who don't want to work and all the other stuff that helps you feel better but please don't argue with the fact unemployment rates (measured in the globally accepted way) are one of the lowest here.