Thailand's unemployment rate among global lowest

BANGKOK, July 1 (TNA) - Thailand is now among countries having lowest unemployment rates in the world, but a large number of Thai people at their working ages have not yet utilized their full potential. The National Statistical Office (NSO) reported the information on Wednesday, saying that Thailand's unemployment rate peaked at 5.73 per cent in early 2001, but the rate dropped to 2.1 per cent in 2004 and 1 per cent in 2010, and that the country's unemployment rate has been below 1 per cent since 2011. According to the NSO report, Thailand's quarterly unemployment rates from last year to early this year ranged from 0.6 per cent to 1 per cent and there are 38.28 million people at their work ages in Thailand as of April 2015, 37.53 million of whomm were employed and 324,000 or only 0.85 per cent were jobless, while 430,000 waited for their seasonal work. Thai people with jobs include workers in the agricultural sector, most of them do not work all day long and are employed only during their crop seasons. Someone may have small jobs or are self-employed and they are not considered jobless. Informal workers and those with part-time jobs are also defined as being employed. Meanwhile, Pumin Harinsut, Deputy Chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, told journalists that most employers view it is not the right time to raise the daily minimum wage to 360 baht, as demanded by workers; otherwise, most local businesses will be heavily affected and more workers will be laid off than what happened in 2013 when the minimum wage rose to 300 baht. Besides, workers cannot move to the local agricultural sector because of low prices of farm products now. (TNA)