Unemployment rate in Thailand increases in August

BANGKOK, October 14 (TNA) - Thailand's unemployment rate increased in August 2013, as more than 100,000 new university graduates had entered the national workforce. According to Thailand's latest employment survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO), there were a total of 317,000 unemployed people nationwide in August 2013. NSO Director-General Viboondhat Sudhantanaki told journalists on Monday that his office's latest employment survey found there were about 39 million people in Thailand's workforce in August 2013, 38.95 million of whom were employed. Of those employed, Viboondhat reported, over 16 million of them were in the local agricultural sector; while more than 22 million were in the non-agricultural sector, most of them worked in the local manufacturing and wholesale sectors. The NSO chief said the unemployed in Thailand in August increased by 93,000 people when compared with the same period of last year, most of whom were 140,000 new university graduates. If considered by regions, the NSO chief acknowledged, the unemployment rate in August was highest in the Thai South at 1.2 per cent, followed by the central and northern regions at 0.9 per cent each. (TNA)