bluesofa Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Reading a news article today in which it mentions Thailand has one of the lowest unemployment rates globally. Thailand is listed as the fourth lowest at 0.7%. Compare that to the UK for example, which has around 6-7% unemployment, depending on which sources you use. I used wiki and also the CIA factbook as my source (figures listed for 2013/4). The reason why I used the UK as it has a reasonably similar population and land size to Thailand. What isn't clear though is if the figures are compiled on the same basis. Thailand's figures are listed as supplied by the National Statistical Office Of Thailand. The UK figures come from BBC news. Not wishing to bring politics into this, but in the UK an awful lot more people will be listed as unemployed as there are financial benefits available if you are looking for work. In Thailand there's nothing like that. So I just wonder how accurate these figures listing countries in a list globally are likely to be? Is the real unemployment rate in Thailand 0.7%? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marko kok prong Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Yes,no dole in Thailand,unless you count sponsor's. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daoyai Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 i would be skeptical of any official statistic. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Crazy chef 1 Posted June 24, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted June 24, 2014 employed and working are two different pair of shoes.... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thakkar Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 The unemployment rate here is indeed quite low but whether it is as low as 0.7%, I don't know. Curiously, there is little pressure on wages. Partly, this is because of the large number of illegal workers that serve as a release valve to keep down wages. But this only explains the lack of pressure on wages at the low end. Perhaps someone here can explain? T 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
transam Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 4 to 6 quid a day and no social security is a haven for employers and the only route for folk is to work...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nong38 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I see a lot of loafers , usually men, who dont seem to be doing too much and then there are a lot of people employed for the sake of pushing a pen. If anyone saw General Prayuth's report last saturday with English subtitles he said that Thailand has to grasp modern technology and be more efficient, he also stated that the problem they are having with labourers from across the border was because many Thais did not want to do the job, you can make what you will of that but he seems to saying what I see. The article is not fit for purpose or is it, someone gets paid for doing nothing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Searat7 Posted June 24, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted June 24, 2014 Underemployment here is huge and is not measured. Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kannot Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 hah I bet a time n motion study would be hilarious here..........theyd have to measure in decades! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveAustin Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Can't be compared with a first world country I'm afraid. Op, you need to take into consideration it takes like three foot-shufflers to do a one-man job here. Also, are monks considered as unemployed in those dubious figures! Not much tax revenue there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesofa Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 hah I bet a time n motion study would be hilarious here..........theyd have to measure in decades! Ha ha! Yes, time and motion in decades! Very witty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesofa Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 Can't be compared with a first world country I'm afraid. Op, you need to take into consideration it takes like three foot-shufflers to do a one-man job here. Also, are monks considered as unemployed in those dubious figures! Not much tax revenue there. I did read recently that out of the 70 million population here, only 2 million pay any sort of income tax. Seems a very low percentage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mesquite Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 The Thais seem to prefer full employment vs efficiency. That's why you see department stores with 10 "sales persons" standing around with their thumbs up their butts, no customers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Somtamnication Posted June 24, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted June 24, 2014 Yes, but. They are quite resourceful. They can cook, sell anything they want until a job comes. Try doing that in the UK. Unemployed? Open a hot dog stand? It takes miles of red tape to get that license. Here, buy the cart, get the gas tank and chose a corner. So yes, they have less unemployment here. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h90 Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Yes, but. They are quite resourceful. They can cook, sell anything they want until a job comes. Try doing that in the UK. Unemployed? Open a hot dog stand? It takes miles of red tape to get that license. Here, buy the cart, get the gas tank and chose a corner. So yes, they have less unemployment here. I guess you can rent the cart like they do with the taxis and can start to make "business" with exactly zero Baht in your pocket. Like the taxi driver who can't change 500 Baht for a 300 Baht ride because he does not even has 200 Baht. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanLaew Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 My experience from 6 years in Isaan? At first look, there appears to be a lot of idle people but when you get into a community, you notice things like the neighbours oldest son who seemed to be a fixture around the place for weeks was suddenly 'gone'. Then he came back a few months later and then was seen most days but never at night. Due to the lack of benefits and the minimum wage, the onus is on most Thai's to constantly seek work. In the space of a few months, the kid mentioned worked at Global House in another city, then at a local driving school, then he was flipping burgers, hence the disappearances and odd hours I witnessed. Note that he wasn't fired from any of these jobs; when he got bored or found something better or nearer home, he would just quit and move on. I think those employing Thai's here can attest to the lack of the locals being 'anchored' in a non-degreed job. There's even those that attend interviews, get offered a job, accept and then don't show up on Monday. When contacted, they say they found a 'better' job over the weekend! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clutch Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Probably because most thai staff are employed to 'just stand around'. There's an endless amount of 'work' for that position being filled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanLaew Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Probably because most thai staff are employed to 'just stand around'. There's an endless amount of 'work' for that position being filled. That's why the neighbours lad quit Global House in Khon Kaen... because he could get paid less for standing around at the driving school which was near his home in Udon. That and his girlfriend had just moved back to Udon from Bangkok. She was working as a supervisor at a Fuji in Central Lardprao and swung a transfer to the new one in Central Udon. The Thai workforce is pretty mobile due to cheap trains and buses. They don't have that luxury in the developed countries! But the post isn't about how Thai businesses are staffed is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Payboy Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 There was a time one used to get paid good money to sit around and watch rice grow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhunBENQ Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 There was a time one used to get paid good money to sit around and watch rice grow. "Good money"? Do have any idea what you are writing about? Ridicolous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeonjake Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 there was a thread like this 2 or 3 weeks ago that got very heated at times, who was giving out the numbers ect, itll get good, but ill be staying out of it this time, ive got my thoughts on thai figours,,,lol jake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandman77 Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Because everybody in Thailand got a chance ! No Mather was good in school or not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Payboy Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 There was a time one used to get paid good money to sit around and watch rice grow. "Good money"? Do have any idea what you are writing about? Ridicolous. 15k against a market price of 5-6k sounds like good money to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMA_FARANG Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 You need to take such figures in Thailand with a very large dose of Salt. Many Thais have never been officially "employed" and therefore the "unemployment" statistics are very doubtful. They are simply a guess. There is no" unemployment benefits" or "dole" here in Thailand, and many people actually working have never been registered as "working" with any government agency. That's why so few are "unemployed". Take my Thai girlfriends daughter and her daughter's husband as an example. They rent a stall in a local market, and sell costume jewelry for a living. They work very hard buying jewelry, cleaning and packaging it, and stocking it in their stall to sell. They work about 10 hours every day, and at least 2 or 3 times a month they travel outside of Bangkok to factories to buy new stock...... which means leaving Bangkok at 4 a.m. to travel to the factory and selecting and buying new stock. That is a 12 to 14 hour day. The next day they clean and package the goods to sell, a 12 hour process at least. None of that is recorded anywhere by any government body, and officially they are "unemployed" and have never been "employed". Bottom line ..... in Thailand the figures don't mean a thing .... they are all for show. I would guess that a good 50% of the actual workers in Thailand are not recorded as 'employed" anywhere in government statistics. For another example, workers hired by the day and paid by the day are not counted by the government. Many are "self-employed" and not covered by "statistics" anywhere. Government statistics simply can't be trusted in Thailand. This is not the EU or the U.S. where everything is monitored. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuestHouse Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Economists will tell you that once the unemployment rate drops below around 2% labour movement and wage pressures cause the economy to become dysfunctional. Look around and consider if that is true or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thailiketoo Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 (edited) Underemployment here is huge and is not measured. Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand Absolutely wrong, in error and just plain balderdash. The employment is low and measured every month using the same methods as the USA among other first world countries. http://web.nso.go.th/ Summary of the labor force survey in Thailand : May 2014 The results of Labor Force Survey in May 2014 showed that there are population, aged 15 years and over, of about 54.79 million persons. Of these 38.3 7 million were in the labor force or available for work (37.76 million were employed, 0.36 million were unemployed and 0.25 million were seasonally inactive labor force), while 16.42 million were not in the labor force or not available for work, such as housewives, students or elderly. Edited June 25, 2014 by thailiketoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pralaad Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Do hookers count as employed or unemployed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thailiketoo Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 i would be skeptical of any official statistic. Why? This is not the banking industry in the US or UK. Perhaps you can find one Thai banking institution that even comes close to the corruption of the banks and financial institutions that use the labor statistics in the West. Go ahead list it. You might want to read, "http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/27/corruption-financial-crisis-business-corruption09_0127corruption.html" Corruption And The Global Financial Crisis. I would be less skeptical of an official Thai statistic than one from the USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thailiketoo Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 4 to 6 quid a day and no social security is a haven for employers and the only route for folk is to work...... Ah no that would not be accurate. http://www.sso.go.th/wpr/eng/background.html You can check out the above link for the history of Thai Social Security. Investment summary of the Social Security Fund http://www.sso.go.th/uploads/eng/files/SSF_01%2010Q4_Eng.pdf Social Security Fund Number of Hospitals in Social Security Scheme : 1995-2012 http://www.sso.go.th/sites/default/files/R_D122012/statisticsmid5_en.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thailiketoo Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Do hookers count as employed or unemployed? I think the term is underemployed and account for .05% of the workforce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.3b3332cc2256ad0edbc2fe9404feeef0.png)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now