Thai economic growth to be lower than expected
Yongyuth Chalamwong, TDRI research director
of labour development, said the unemployment rate in Thailand last
year stood at 0.8 percent, up 0.2 percent from the previous figure. The
country’s GDP in 2013 expanded 2.9 percent, leaving 300,000 people
unemployed.
He said that if this year’s GDP is lower than that
of last year, the unemployment rate will spike up to 1.0 to 1.2 percent,
leaving 450,000 people without jobs, due to the prolonged political
unrest that has dragged on for six months.
The director also forecast that the Thai GDP will only grow between 2.5 and 2.7 percent this year.
According
to the National Statistical Office, 341,000 people were unemployed in
March, accounting for 0.9 percent of the population. When compared to
the same period of last year, the number of unemployed workers increased
by 62,000 people.-VNA