Job creation in first nine months exceeds pre-Covid level
Employment in nine months of 2022 surpassed the pre-Covid level as Thailand’s economy has been steadily recovering from the impact of the pandemic, the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) said on Monday.
Some industries, however, are still facing labour shortage, it added.
At the end of the third quarter of 2022, 39.56 million people were employed in Thailand, up 2.7% or by 1.03 million people compared to the employment figures in the same period of 2019, before the pandemic.
Of the employed, 37.09 million are Thais and 2.47 million are foreigners, the NESDC reported, while some 490,000 people are currently unemployed.
The NESDC said employment among Thais has risen by 5.1% year on year, especially in key manufacturing sectors. However, employment in agriculture, fishery, hospitality and service industries saw a downward trend.
Employed foreigners plunged 23.2% year on year due to migrant workers from neighbouring countries heading back home during the pandemic, who are yet to return.
This has resulted in labour shortage in industries requiring manual workers, such as manufacturing, construction, retail, agriculture, forestry, and fishery, the NESDC said.
The council estimated that foreign workers would increase next year in keeping with a rising trend that started at the end of the second quarter this year, increasing from 2.26 million to 2.47 million people in just three months.
Myanmar nationals dominated Thailand’s unskilled labour market at 71.94% of total foreign unskilled labour, followed by Cambodians (19.34%), Laotians (8.71%) and Vietnamese (0.01%).
Meanwhile, about 240,000 foreigners are being employed as skilled labourers, or 9.89% of total foreign labour in Thailand.
