Unemployment rises 34% in Phuket due to virus’s impact

Unemployment on the resort island of Phuket is up 34% year on year due the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, according to the Phuket Provincial Employment Office (PPEO).

“After Chinese government banned their citizens from travel abroad because of COVID-19, the number of people coming to register as unemployed has been rising quickly. About 80 people come to register as unemployed every day. In total about 1,000 people registered as unemployed between January 26 and February 20. They all used to work in the hospitality industry, as tour guides, hotel staff or boat drivers.”

The rise marks a 34% increase on the number of people formally registered as unemployed compared with the same period last year.

PPEO spokeswoman Thatkwan Surin told reporters that “Staff of hotels, tour operators and restaurants that opened especially to serve Chinese tourists are the main ones affected, as their companies have lost their main source of income and need to cut costs” The spike in Phuket’s jobless has created a surplus of qualified candidates, according to Thatkwan.

“The PPEO currently has only 112 vacancies recorded in our system, with 335 people qualified for those positions. We have helped those people seeking work by registering them to receive compensation from social security, suggesting new jobs to them and we will hold a job market event on March 15.”

“At the event, there will be more than 40 vacancies available, but that will be for around 1,000 people to apply for.”

(The Thaiger thinks this statistic of 34% sounds extremely high and will follow up the numbers reported in Phuket News with the PPEO.)

SOURCE: The Phuket News