BANGKOK – Thailand’s unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2022 dropped to 1.15 percent from 1.23 percent in the previous quarter, the state planning agency said on Thursday, as the vital tourism sector rebounds.
Employment increased 1.5 percent in October-December from a year earlier, but slowed from a 2.1 percent rise in the September quarter, as jobs in the service sector increased but farm sector employment contracted, the agency said in a statement.
The tourism sector still lacked sufficient workers while the number of foreign tourists was expected to reach 28 million this year, Danucha Pichayanan, head of the National Economic and Social Development Council, told a news conference.
The export sector, however, showed signs of a further slowdown and efforts should be made to help support exports and retain jobs in the sector, he said.
In 2022, Thailand had a workforce of 39 million, with the jobless rate at 1.32 percent, the agency said.
Thailand’s economy is expected to grow 3.8 percent this year, helped by a rebound in the vital tourism sector, while inflation should cool to its target range, the finance minister said on Saturday.
Domestic spending has increased and the government will accelerate large project investment to help growth, Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told a Radio Thailand programme.
As the global slowdown hurts exports, “tourism is our hope,” he said.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy expanded a weaker-than expected 2.6 percent last year, lagging that of others in the region as its tourism sector just started to pick up.
The finance ministry has forecast 27.5 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, after Thailand beat its forecast in 2022 with 11.15 million visitors. There were nearly 40 million foreign tourists in pre-pandemic 2019.
Arkhom told Reuters this month that economic growth could beat forecasts, with the return of Chinese tourists.
