KASIKORN Research Centre’s latest survey on the living conditions of Thai households in Bangkok and surrounding provinces shows that unemployment rate soared to 9.6% in May as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, PostToday reported this morning (5.6.2020).
This survey, held during May 21-28, indicated that the jobless rate should reach the highest point in this the second quarter of the year and start dropping in the second half of the year provided coronavirus does not spread again in this country leading to a second lockdown.
The survey showed that most Thai households are increasingly aware of the importance of saving money and getting income from multiple sources after facing this pandemic.
Moreover most affected households have increasingly turned to online trading with this underscoring the importance of E-commerce in absorbing jobless workers. This trend to try to get income online has replaced the traditional drift towards agriculture.
Thai households have also changed their spending habits now becoming more careful and strengthening their financial discipline.
This is an urgent matter for the government to address both in terms of issuing economic measures to help create jobs and stimulate the economy and supporting the newly unemployed after the remedial measures end.
An important step would be to issue saving promotion measures conducive to the various groups of workers.
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Top: Unemployment text on calculator screen against a background of hundred dollar bills. Photo: Jernej Furman (CC BY 2.0)
