Bloomberg: Thailand has one of the lowest unemployment rates

BANGKOK: -- Thailand has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world, with only 0.56 percent of the people unemployed compared to India's 9.4 percent and the Philippines’s 6 percent, said a Bloomberg article.

Bloomberg said the unemployment rate was due to structural problems rather than differences in defining the term 'unemployment'. It said the agricultural sector took the bulk of labor forces, with more than 40 percent of the Thai population working in the field, according to the Bank of Thailand spokesman, Chirathep Senivongs Na Ayudhya.

It also said many of the unemployed in Thailand often find jobs in “informal sectors,” and thus are not defined as being gainfully employed. The informal sectors comprise street vendors, motorcycle taxi drivers, the self-employed, and those who do not work in office, which include the underemployed, people who are highly skilled but work for low wages or low skill jobs, and part-time workers looking for a full-time job. Some laborers working on the farm are also counted as underemployed or seasonally employed.

Another factor contributing to the low unemployment rate in Thailand, according to the article, is the country's low fertility rate, which means older people-- 60 or above--who are retiring or no longer in the work force make up a large part of population in the country. Other factors include unregistered foreign workers from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, who have yet to be included in the unemployment rate. Thailand has registered 1.6 million foreign workers since last year.


-- NNT 2015-03-05

I read that 64% of the Thai population is employed in the informal sector and also read that anyone working at least an hour a week for say their dad IS in fact gainfully employed and NOT counted as unemployed. Otherwise, how else could the country only have an unemployment figure of a measly 0.56%? That's almost nothing.

This confirms the fact that unemployment rates are basically bull.

Same goes with % of educated people.

Only people actively looking for a job are calculated in unemployment figures.

Oh my god, I so worry that soon the poster who read the book "'statistics for dummies" will reappear, to inform us that the unemployment statistics are internationally standardized, and that doubting them is a form of Thai bashing.

Yeah right, the Thai government it self fudging the figures to look good, they have no clue

as to the real unemployment rate in this country as there in no unemployment benefits

payable to the unemployed hence people do not bother to register, and the government

only guess , and their guess is like a fart in the wind.....

No social security here so near all must do something.

Impossible for Thai Government to know.

Are TAT doing all the unemployment figures now as well as making up their own numbers?

Lying in a hammock supping Lao Kao all day must be classed as being employed

Yea right......like how many have applied for unemployment compensation? Or do you have such a thing in Thailand? this is pure B%# SH*T.

Yea right......like how many have applied for unemployment compensation? Or do you have such a thing in Thailand? this is pure B%# SH*T.

Should Thailand have unemployment benefits, the true number of unemployed would surface, plus some...?

You only have to go to places like Big C, HomePro or any large store and see loads of staff just hanging around looking at I phones, to realise why unemployment is so low - if of course it is.

I would hate to think what a good time and motion study by experts would make of some of these stores.

I wouldn't mind if it were possible to get the assistance that you need, when you want it.

Look around. How Thais do you know that don't have some kind of self employment. Many of them don't like to work for other people and prefer to work for themselves. That's all going to change now. With all the vendors having to close. Take another survey in 6 months. Unemployment is going to shoot up. Many of the members of my thai family are going to suffer greatly from all the new regulations.

None of my rich thai friends seem to be suffering though.

How are the number of monks classified?

Well since there are jobs like standing next to a shelf picking your nose or sleeping on a chair its not all that strange.

Low Unemployment = Higher Human Trafficking

Simple equation that has a solution called LTOW.

Look The Other Way.

Yeah right, the Thai government it self fudging the figures to look good, they have no clue

as to the real unemployment rate in this country as there in no unemployment benefits

payable to the unemployed hence people do not bother to register, and the government

only guess , and their guess is like a fart in the wind.....

if they did bring in unemployment benefits....The rate of unemployed would instantly rise to 100% unemployed.

What a bullshit article , not viewing all the sides of employment and unemployment, even not effectivity of work and work skills....

if you compare with Europe you compare bananas with apples.......

Thailand would have millions of unemployed people if they all would have "real work" instead standing around, playing with their mobile phones and not more then that, but yes, they work!

How do they write this garbage maybe that stat is for women seeing they have to work to support there bum boy friends.

There are millions gainfully employed watching rice grow.

Yeah right , is there anything that Thailand isn't good at , being the Hub of B/S might be worthwhile pursuing.

Well since there are jobs like standing next to a shelf picking your nose or sleeping on a chair its not all that strange.

As a matter of fact, macro economists have an expression for this phenomenon: "hidden unemployment".

if they did bring in unemployment benefits....The rate of unemployed would instantly rise to 100% unemployed.

Considering the pension here is just 500 baht per month, just how much do you think any government's generosity to the unemployed would rate? And would it persuade anyone capable of earning their own living, to get down to the local Unemployment Exchange. I'm guessing it wouldn't be worth the price of the gasoline used to take them there.

I am aware (and have pointed out to various workmen who have complained about the measly pension here) that many in Thailand, particularly the overwhelmingly self employed, pay no tax. However. Given how it is routinely salted away by whomsoever's snout is in the trough, (given which soever administration), I'd be loath to pay it too if I were one of the small shopkeepers', for instance, who do indeed pay tax and resent where it very often ends up.

Edited March 5, 201511 yr by tif

And it is a very happy country. Good on ya Bloomberg.

It does sound as though Bloomberg were spoon feed? from how they report collection of data.

And human trafficking is under control.

Just another good happy news day in Thailand, orchestrated by the lads from the military.

As white lies are quite acceptable in this society. And no transparency. Can we believe, anything that is published?

Oh! Well! Sabai sabai then! Don't complain, you all have a job! How lucky you are!

Thanks Bloomberg!

Yea right......like how many have applied for unemployment compensation? Or do you have such a thing in Thailand? this is pure B%# SH*T.

Should Thailand have unemployment benefits, the true number of unemployed would surface, plus some...?

Name me one country that gives it's unemployment figures that people don't drag in all kinds of ideas to disprove it. If Thailand has a high unemployment I would think they would not be letting Burmese Lao and Cambodians in to work.

I really don't know but some thing smells fishy when they legally let so many in to work and a person says they have lot's of unemployed.

All countries have suspect statistics.

Yea right......like how many have applied for unemployment compensation? Or do you have such a thing in Thailand? this is pure B%# SH*T.

Should Thailand have unemployment benefits, the true number of unemployed would surface, plus some...?

Name me one country that gives it's unemployment figures that people don't drag in all kinds of ideas to disprove it. If Thailand has a high unemployment I would think they would not be letting Burmese Lao and Cambodians in to work.

I really don't know but some thing smells fishy when they legally let so many in to work and a person says they have lot's of unemployed.

All countries have suspect statistics.

If they didn't let the Burmese or Cambodian in the condo buildings in bangkok would rise above ground floor.

Ever been to Issaan?

Yea right......like how many have applied for unemployment compensation? Or do you have such a thing in Thailand? this is pure B%# SH*T.

Should Thailand have unemployment benefits, the true number of unemployed would surface, plus some...?

Name me one country that gives it's unemployment figures that people don't drag in all kinds of ideas to disprove it. If Thailand has a high unemployment I would think they would not be letting Burmese Lao and Cambodians in to work.

I really don't know but some thing smells fishy when they legally let so many in to work and a person says they have lot's of unemployed.

All countries have suspect statistics.

quote: name me one country etc >>>> who to trust: all those governments or the people that "drag in"?

quote: fishy when they etc >>>> fishy indeed, lower wages and more easy to bully

quote: all countries etc >>>> that would include Thailand? So you agree with the criticisms?

Perhaps I missed your point? Please state it again.