People at a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand (Photo: AFP/VNA) As reported by local English-language daily The Nation, FPO Director Pisit Puapan said that by 2040, the population of old people would grow to 20.4 million from 12.2 million at present, and the employment workforce (people aged 15-59) would reduce to 36 million from the current 43 million.
Citing a government forecast, Pisit noted that Thailand would enter the aging society era by 2025 when there would be 14.5 million people older than 60, or 20.7 percent of the entire population.
Continuous changes in the population structure of Thailand would result in a drop in aggregate productivity, a quick rise in the daily minimum wage, and subsequent inflation, the official explained.
Those changes would also cause a demand-supply problem if old people get poorer and see a drop in their buying power. The savings situation as a whole would also be affected when old people spend more of their savings.
Pisit said short-term solutions to the population balance problem could be solved by reforming the workforce, while increasing the number of female workers to compensate for a loss through retirement./.
VNA
