Voluntary exodus leaves 1% of workforce jobless in first quarter

Over 400,000 individuals, representing approximately 1% of the working-age population, were unemployed during the first quarter of the year, with the primary reason being voluntary resignation.

Piyanuch Wuttisornon, the Director-General of the National Statistical Office (NSO), announced the findings from a survey on the working-age population. The results indicated a decrease in unemployment numbers for the first quarter compared to the same period last year.

The survey revealed that around 410,000 people were unemployed in the first quarter of this year, which is 1% of the workforce.

Among those, 79,000 had been unemployed for over a year, marking a 4.9% decrease from last year. University graduates constituted the largest group among the unemployed, the survey reported.

“A significant 59.25% of those unemployed stated they had quit their jobs.”

Another 16.16% of respondents said they had closed their businesses, 13.15% indicated their employment contracts had ended, 5.47% reported being sacked, and 4.71% cited other reasons for their joblessness.

The survey also showed that there were 40.2 million people of working age in the first quarter of this year, with 39.6 million of them employed. This figure was slightly lower than the same period last year.

The decline was primarily due to fewer people working in the agricultural sector, partially attributed to climate issues such as more severe droughts, reported Bangkok Post.

Conversely, the number of people employed outside the agricultural sector increased by 2.2% over the same period, with a notable 10.3% rise in workers in the hotel and food industries.

In related news, concerning statistics were unveiled by Thailand’s National Statistical Office (NSO), revealing that newly minted graduates now comprise the largest segment of the country’s unemployed.

Results from October’s employment survey disclosed that around 150,000 recent graduates were jobless, a worrying trend that Suwannee Wangkarn, NSO’s Deputy Director, labelled alarming.

Every month, the NSO conducts an employment survey among Thai citizens. The most recent data, collected in October, pointed to a total of 341,000 unemployed individuals, among which the new graduates represented the most significant fraction, 0.8% of the total.