Thailand needs to develop labour skills though it has the world's lowest unemployment rate

[webfact]

Thailand needs to develop labour skills though it has the lowest unemployment rate



BANGKOK: -- Despite having the lowest unemployment rate in the world, most of the working age population in the country are still under-performed and need to upgrade their skills and competencies, according to the National Statistics Office (NSC).

The NSC reported that unemployment rate in Thailand reached an all-time high of 5.73 percent in January of 2001 but decreased to 2.1 percent three years later and fell to 1 percent in 2010.

The country’s jobless rate has held below 1 percent since 2011 and has remained between 0.6-1 percent since last year, it said.

The latest statistics in April of 2015 showed the country has 38.28 million workforce, comprising 37.53 million employed workers, and 324,000 unemployed workers or equating to 0.85 percent of the overall population. Meanwhile there are 430,000 seasonal workers.

The workforce is still employed by the farm sector. Majority of the farmers do not work full time and are most likely unemployed during the off-season. However, some of them perform casual works and are still counted the employed category.

The NSC said among those employed workers, ate those working in the farming sector of which the majority are not full time workers and will be unemployed after the cultivation season. Some also will do part-time jobs and are still counted in the employed category.

Meanwhile Mrs Roong Mallikamas, Director of the Bank of Thailand’s Monetary Policy Group said that the Thai economy recovered on a gradual pace in May, although the unemployment rate remained low and was unchanged from April. Workforce employed in agriculture sector declined due to drought, while declining price of farm products has caused the workforce to shift out of farm sector.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thailand-needs-to-develop-labour-skills-though-it-has-the-lowest-unemployment-rate

-- Thai PBS 2015-07-01

[HeijoshinCool]

.

Thailand: hub of the fully employed.

But then, Thai statistics have only a 3.74% chance of being accurate.

[petedk]

How can they know the unemployment rate when people don't register as being unemployed?

Edited July 1, 2015 by petedk

[ikke]

Up country... or Isaan if that sounds better... the male population is not working at all, laying under a sala, playing petanque , in big groups, mostly the lady goes to work, the man stays home lazy and just doing nothing....

Problem with the numbers is that no one is registered as unemployed.

[jaywalker]

How can they know the unemployment rate when people don't register as being unemployed?

Because all the hookers pay taxes maybe?

More like unemployment doesn't exist, as it might affect the image of Thailand.

And....that's why prostitution is illegal.

It's a vicious cycle.

[zaphod reborn]

Thailand, hub of the lottery vendors.

[PatOngo]

The coverted "Inactive Post" ensures unemployment figures remain favourable.

[Thaddeus]

They keep banging on about having the lowest unemployment rate in the world, what they never say is that to qualify as being employed in Thailand you only have to work for one hour in a month.

Yep, one hour a month.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Thaddeus

[DirtyDan]

I think productivity would be a better measure of success... Sure, there's 12 people employed in the AIS shop, but it takes 11.5 of them to figure out how pay my bill every month (or any random three to "help" me use the kiosk).

Edited July 1, 2015 by DirtyDan

[Misterwhisper]

It seems that almost the entire unemployed population of this country is congregating in my neighborhood, starting to drink lao khao every morning in front of the local mom-and-pop shop.

But honestly, how DO they determine the exact employed and unemployed figures? No unemployed person is required to report their status to any authority. Furthermore, even the employed ones either work "informally" (i.e. again not registered) or occasionally hold hourly jobs. Also, the majority of workers don't even pay income tax, so it's impossible to determine an accurate employment figure from those data. And is the scavenger scouring my area for recyclable stuff considered "employed"?

SO HOW DO THEY DO IT?

My wild guess is that it's just once again a dreamed-up statistic that makes everyone involved feel happy.

The unemployed folks in front of the mom-and-pop shop surely are...

[DM07]

Every Tom, Dick & Harry- shop has 200 employees, most of them not having a clue, being zero- service minded and playing with their phone or the make up- mirror all day!

No wonder, they have a low unemployment rate!

[Thai at Heart]

Sitting on your ass drinking lao khao under a tree doesn't constitute unemployment.

He isn't requesting work, and can go and do a few days in the fields a week and hey presto, employed.

[IMA_FARANG]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.... the low unemployment rate in Thailand is a statistical fiction, created by the fact that there are a large number of Thais that work at jobs that are never recorded or they are never entered into any Thai government agency as "employed".

That is why the "unemployment rate" is so low in Thailand.... because to be counted as unemployed, you first have to worked officially at a job.

Many day laborers in Thailand have never officially held a job or been registered anywhere as an employee before.

Perfect example..... the owner of the house next door is remodeling his house.

He hires a number of young men to help him do the work as laborers.

Did he register any of them as his "employees" and pay social security or health benefits for any of them?

Of course not, this is Thailand, he just pays them cash.

Nobody in the government even knows about them, they are not officially "employed"

So when the remodeling of the house if finished, nobody "loses" a job and nobody is ever unemployed

That is the norm in Thailand, especially outside the cities.

That is the norm about "statistics" in Thailand.

[Shawn0001]

Up country... or Isaan if that sounds better... the male population is not working at all, laying under a sala, playing petanque , in big groups, mostly the lady goes to work, the man stays home lazy and just doing nothing....

Problem with the numbers is that no one is registered as unemployed.

Been out in the midday sun again?

[elgordo38]

.

Thailand: hub of the fully employed.

But then, Thai statistics have only a 3.74% chance of being accurate.

Yes thanks to all the slaworkers that come in from the surrounding countries where unfortunately things are worse than here in Thailand. This mobile workforce gravitates to countries where wages are higher and labor standards well you know wink wink. The funny thing about numbers is that is all they are. You can arrange them however you wish. Thailand is the hub of number arranging. Yes unemployment by government standards (numbers) is low but there is a definite lack of really good paying jobs. Then there is the age factor. My g/f at age 25 tells me (and she speaks good English)that at her age she is to old to get a good paying job (if one were available) I have read articles on TV of students graduating university and having a hard time to get a decent paying job. Why is this when government tells us that more education to deal with higher skilled jobs is the answer. I think the simple answer is that big business does not want to "over pay you" Not to worry in the near future robots will work 24 hours a day for a simple recharge to their system and you can all go fishing. Here's hoping there will be water left to fish in.

[kkup]

Even the stats are corrupt. Unless sitting around eating somtum and playing cards is working something is wrong here.

[Thai at Heart]

.

Thailand: hub of the fully employed.

But then, Thai statistics have only a 3.74% chance of being accurate.

Yes thanks to all the slaworkers that come in from the surrounding countries where unfortunately things are worse than here in Thailand. This mobile workforce gravitates to countries where wages are higher and labor standards well you know wink wink. The funny thing about numbers is that is all they are. You can arrange them however you wish. Thailand is the hub of number arranging. Yes unemployment by government standards (numbers) is low but there is a definite lack of really good paying jobs. Then there is the age factor. My g/f at age 25 tells me (and she speaks good English)that at her age she is to old to get a good paying job (if one were available) I have read articles on TV of students graduating university and having a hard time to get a decent paying job. Why is this when government tells us that more education to deal with higher skilled jobs is the answer. I think the simple answer is that big business does not want to "over pay you" Not to worry in the near future robots will work 24 hours a day for a simple recharge to their system and you can all go fishing. Here's hoping there will be water left to fish in.

Define decent paying. I got a close friend a job with a top 4 accountancy company. She had a degree from overseas. 16k baht per month. How does one live in central bangkok on 16k

[recycler]

How can they know the unemployment rate when people don't register as being unemployed?

The same way they know that 97.4% of the Thai people are happy with the new government...

[RedRoadRunner]

Haahaa...you guys are so funny !!!!....

1. how do they calculate these number where in a country that got no proper registration of people at all?

2. No registration of unemployed person at all...!

3. So the number of employed people can only be a 'guesstimate'.......

so where are all these percentages coming from???

Thailands 'elders' lying in their own pockets once again !!!!

[dageurreotype]

They keep banging on about having the lowest unemployment rate in the world, what they never say is that to qualify as being employed in Thailand you only have to work for one hour in a month.

Yep, one hour a month.

So, this 4 Thai employee quota for a farang business means, technically, such business need only employ 4 Thais @ pro rata minimum daily wage of 300 baht for an hour each? Just asking ..

[Maggusoil]

They keep banging on about having the lowest unemployment rate in the world, what they never say is that to qualify as being employed in Thailand you only have to work for one hour in a month.

Yep, one hour a month.

Work for benefits like they do in some countries we know and they'll be queuing up for miles.

[luk AJ]

.

Thailand: hub of the fully employed.

But then, Thai statistics have only a 3.74% chance of being accurate.

Yes thanks to all the slaworkers that come in from the surrounding countries where unfortunately things are worse than here in Thailand. This mobile workforce gravitates to countries where wages are higher and labor standards well you know wink wink. The funny thing about numbers is that is all they are. You can arrange them however you wish. Thailand is the hub of number arranging. Yes unemployment by government standards (numbers) is low but there is a definite lack of really good paying jobs. Then there is the age factor. My g/f at age 25 tells me (and she speaks good English)that at her age she is to old to get a good paying job (if one were available) I have read articles on TV of students graduating university and having a hard time to get a decent paying job. Why is this when government tells us that more education to deal with higher skilled jobs is the answer. I think the simple answer is that big business does not want to "over pay you" Not to worry in the near future robots will work 24 hours a day for a simple recharge to their system and you can all go fishing. Here's hoping there will be water left to fish in.

Define decent paying. I got a close friend a job with a top 4 accountancy company. She had a degree from overseas. 16k baht per month. How does one live in central bangkok on 16k

depend, as admin this is normal ( even quite good) but I suppose you don't mean she was hired as accountant because their salary starts at 70 up to 150 per month. Regarding unemployment; 3 milj are employed by government so this helps....

[dotpoom]

If Home Pro is anything to go by....like being attacked by a swarm of assistants wanting to "help" you...it's a wonder there is any un-employment at all in Thailand.

[NickJ]

What a joke...I was at a mall, counted 16 people working at a Doughnut shop. 3 would have done it.....Home Pro has more employees than customers at times.

Companies have to Overhire as the basic worker is almost useless.

[Thai at Heart]

.

Thailand: hub of the fully employed.

But then, Thai statistics have only a 3.74% chance of being accurate.

Yes thanks to all the slaworkers that come in from the surrounding countries where unfortunately things are worse than here in Thailand. This mobile workforce gravitates to countries where wages are higher and labor standards well you know wink wink. The funny thing about numbers is that is all they are. You can arrange them however you wish. Thailand is the hub of number arranging. Yes unemployment by government standards (numbers) is low but there is a definite lack of really good paying jobs. Then there is the age factor. My g/f at age 25 tells me (and she speaks good English)that at her age she is to old to get a good paying job (if one were available) I have read articles on TV of students graduating university and having a hard time to get a decent paying job. Why is this when government tells us that more education to deal with higher skilled jobs is the answer. I think the simple answer is that big business does not want to "over pay you" Not to worry in the near future robots will work 24 hours a day for a simple recharge to their system and you can all go fishing. Here's hoping there will be water left to fish in.

Define decent paying. I got a close friend a job with a top 4 accountancy company. She had a degree from overseas. 16k baht per month. How does one live in central bangkok on 16k

depend, as admin this is normal ( even quite good) but I suppose you don't mean she was hired as accountant because their salary starts at 70 up to 150 per month. Regarding unemployment; 3 milj are employed by government so this helps....

She was a trainee accountant. Once qualified that is different. But really 16k for a foreign graduate was quite a shock

[fareastguy]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.... the low unemployment rate in Thailand is a statistical fiction, created by the fact that there are a large number of Thais that work at jobs that are never recorded or they are never entered into any Thai government agency as "employed".

That is why the "unemployment rate" is so low in Thailand.... because to be counted as unemployed, you first have to worked officially at a job.

Many day laborers in Thailand have never officially held a job or been registered anywhere as an employee before.

Perfect example..... the owner of the house next door is remodeling his house.

He hires a number of young men to help him do the work as laborers.

Did he register any of them as his "employees" and pay social security or health benefits for any of them?

Of course not, this is Thailand, he just pays them cash.

Nobody in the government even knows about them, they are not officially "employed"

So when the remodeling of the house if finished, nobody "loses" a job and nobody is ever unemployed

That is the norm in Thailand, especially outside the cities.

That is the norm about "statistics" in Thailand.

And no-one pays or is accountable for tax !!

[Lupatria]

So much to skilled workers and the lowest unemployment rate:

[ronthai]

Guys and Gals, let Thailand have the lowest un-employment in the world. Tourism is of course also at it highest every month. At least these statistic creators are registered "workers".

The title of the OP was about Thai workers need higher working skills. I suggest them to start with an attitude change and for those Thais that can read, get a dictionary to see what working means.

[Thai at Heart]

Guys and Gals, let Thailand have the lowest un-employment in the world. Tourism is of course also at it highest every month. At least these statistic creators are registered "workers".

The title of the OP was about Thai workers need higher working skills. I suggest them to start with an attitude change and for those Thais that can read, get a dictionary to see what working means.

They have the wrong type of workers. Thai industry wants uneducated bodies hence the continued import of foreign labour. Meanwhile, foreign companies clamour for better educated workers.

Well, improving education takes 15 years to see the first results.

How long do you reckon the foreign companies will hang around?

[Deli]

What is the Thai word for efficiency ?

GF said: no have...