The labour situation in the third quarter was improved

Chatrudee Theparat

The labour situation in the third quarter was improved

The labor situation in the third quarter of 2023 continued to improve, driven by an increase in employment for both the non-agricultural sector and the agricultural sector while unemployment remained low at 0.99 %.

The National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) secretary general Danucha Pichayanan said in the third quarter of 2023, the total number of employed individuals reached 40.1 million, a 1.3 % increase from the same period last year, following the expansion of employment in the agricultural sector by 2%

Nonfarm employment grew by 1 %. In particular, the hotel and restaurant sector expanded by 8.3 %, attributed to a nearly double increase in the number of foreign tourists compared to the previous year. Likewise, employment in the construction and transport and storage sectors also continued to recover by 2.9 % and 2.1 %, respectively, from the prior quarter.

Manufacturing employment expanded by 0.6 % in response to productions for domestic sales, such as food and beverages and basic metal. However, export-oriented manufacturing production saw a decrease in employment. Working hours experienced a minor drop, with overall and private sector working hours at 42.4 hours/week and 46.1 hours/week, respectively.

The number of overtime workers contracted by 2 %, while the number of underemployed individuals increased by 24.9 %. The unemployment rate is close to the pre-pandemic level, dropping to 0.99 % or 0.4 million unemployed persons.

Issues that need further consistent monitoring include: 1) Enhancing the productivity of agricultural workers, as the labor productivity of Thai agricultural sector is grew the slowest in ASEAN; 2) Impact of contracted export on employment in the manufacturing sector, as the decline in exports since the third quarter of 2022 may put downward pressure on employment in several key export-oriented manufacturing sectors, such as computer and electronics manufacturing, rubber and plastic products, and electrical equipment.

3) The adjustment in commodity prices before the minimum wage adjustment, as previous studies have found that commodity prices typically increase at least 6 months before a scheduled minimum wage adjustment. This tends to occur even though production costs remain unchanged.