BANGKOK- Thailand’s unemployment rate hit a 12-year high in the first quarter of 2021 due to the renewed impact of coronavirus outbreaks, as the country reimposed measures to contain a third wave of infections, the state planning agency said on Monday.
The Southeast Asian country’s latest, more severe outbreak has seen overall cases nearly quadruple since early April, and deaths increase six-fold.
The unemployment rate was 1.96 percent in the January-March quarter, representing 758,000 workers without jobs, up from 1.86 percent in the previous quarter, state agency data showed.
The rate was the highest since 2.08 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2009 during the global financial crisis.
“The unemployment rate increased drastically and is expected to rise again, reflecting the ongoing impact of COVID-19,” DanuchaPichayanan, head of the National Economic and Social Development Council, told a briefing.
Unemployment slowed in the second half of 2020, when earlier outbreaks were contained before re-emerging this year.
The official definition of being unemployed in Thailand is quite narrow, including only those who do not work a single hour in a surveyed week and excluding those with a business or owning farms, while analysts note it does not catch the significant unofficial economy.
The prolonged COVID-19 outbreak may prevent the economy from growing as targeted as economic activity has slowed, Danucha said.
