Tanit Sorat, vice president of the Employers' Confederation of Thai Trade and Industry and head of the Advisory Council for National Workforce Development, predicts that Thailand's economy would stay largely stagnant from 2024 until at least the first half of 2025.
Export success and other economic activities including tourism, wholesale and retail commerce, construction, and the service sector are important determinants of employment. Together, these industries foster the development of jobs, which in turn increases worker expenditure and consumption as both producers and consumers.
According to labour market data from October 2024, 39.63 million people were employed in Thailand, while 387,000–390,000 people were jobless, translating to an unemployment rate of 0.97–1%. Of those without jobs, 41.3% had a bachelor's degree or more.
Furthermore, half of the jobless had never had a job. He emphasised that the stated unemployment rate might not accurately represent the situation because it does not include the roughly 184,000 individuals who work part-time, averaging four hours per day, which makes up 0.46% of the employed.
The unemployment rate for workers covered by Social Security Section 33 was 216,213 in October 2024, or 1.8% of the total. Compared to the same time period in 2023, when the unemployment rate was 1.93%, this was a minor decline. Of these, 75,885 people were newly unemployed, which was the biggest number in six months.
However, the stagnating economy may cause the overall unemployment rate to increase from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025. Since many businesses are forced to undergo debt restructuring programs due to liquidity concerns, new hiring has stalled.
Slightly more than half (52.8%) of the 591 enterprises polled by the Advisory Council in late November reported unchanged employment levels. Nonetheless, 24.2% of those surveyed indicated possible workforce reductions, aligning with an increasing number of business closures.
