Household income rose in EEC provinces despite pandemic: report
The development of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) resulted in household incomes rising by an average of 5% per year, even during the pandemic, according to a report from the Office of Strategy Management, Eastern Economic Corridor Policy Commission.
The report surveyed household income in the three provinces the EEC encompasses – Chachoengsao, Chonburi and Rayong – between 2019 and 2021, and found that average household income rose by 2,605 baht per year over the three-year period in the three provinces.
It rose the highest in Rayong province, at 7.7% per year, followed by Chonburi (6.2%), and Chachoengsao (0.7%).
Workers in the manufacturing sector with vocational or associate degrees earned an average wage of 20,368 baht per month in 2020, the report said. The industries with the highest wages were petroleum (36,187 baht per month), chemicals and pharmaceuticals (25,636 baht per month), and metal production (23,535 baht per month), the report said.
The number of workers employed in the EEC rose by 8.5% from 2016 to 2021 to 527,453 in total, the report said. Almost all the growth occurred in Rayong province.
It saw an increase of new jobs of 24.4% during the period, primarily in the auto and parts manufacturing, metal production and processing, beverage production, wholesale, and construction sectors, the report said.
In Chachoengsao province, the number of workers increased by 8.9% (124,497 people), while in Chonburi the number fell by 0.1% (3,044 people) primarily due to the impact of Covid-19 on the province’s tourism sector.
The number of businesses in the EEC area grew by an average of 3.2% per year between 2016 and 2021 to a total of 19,746. Most were in the manufacturing sector, followed by the service sector, and the trade sector.
