Fewer people are out of work in Thailand, with the jobless rate reaching a 3-year low during the first quarter of 2023, according to a Reuters report. It’s thanks, in no small part, to the rebound in international tourism, with unemployment going from 1.15% during the last 3 months of 2022 to 1.05% in the first three months of this year, according to officials.
There was faster than expected economic growth during the first quarter of this year, thanks to the jump in tourism, which has created more jobs in a sector that was decimated during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the National Economic and Social Development Council, there was a 2.4% increase in employment between January and March, compared to the same time last year. In the same period, there were 420,000 unemployed, which is the lowest number since the rate of 1.03% during the first quarter of 2020.
However, the Reuters report points out that Thailand’s definition of jobless only considers as unemployed those who don’t work a single hour in a surveyed week.
Experts say the numbers given don’t capture the “unofficial economy” in the kingdom. During the first quarter of this year, the country had a workforce of 39.6 million, according to the planning agency.
SOURCE: Reuters
