Unemployment rate in Thailand remains low

BANGKOK, December 7 (TNA) - The National Statistical Office (NSO) says that Thailand's unemployment rate has remained low, at only some 223,000 as of October 2012. The NSO reported Friday, citing results from its recent survey, that there are now about 39.49 million Thai people at working ages, 39.21 million of them have jobs and 223,000 others are jobless. In the local agricultural sector, the NSO said, there are some 14.87 million who have jobs, an increase by nearly 600,000 from the same period last year. In the non-agricultural sectors, the updated NSO survey found that employed people have stood at 24.34 million, an increase by 320,000 from the corresponding period of last year, and that the lion’s share of about 6.13 million workers is in wholesale and retail businesses. According to the NSO, the 223,000 unemployed people accounts for 0.6 per cent of the total number of Thai people at their working ages, an increase by 4,000 from the same period of last year, with some 62,000 of them never having jobs and 161,000 finding new jobs, covering some 58,000 graduates. The NSO acknowledged that the average wage of Thai workers now stands at 11,184 baht per month, with the average wage in the local agricultural sector at 4,776 baht per month and outside the agricultural sector at 12,000 baht per month. (TNA)