Thailand's overall unemployment rate dropped from May to June, except in Bangkok, according to a new survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
The total number of unemployed was estimated at 379,000 in June, down from about 482,000 people in May, said the NSO.
The survey was conducted among the working-age population of 59.19 million people aged 15 and older.
Of them, 40 million were able to work in the formal sector, while the rest, such as the disabled, were not.
From May through to June, the unemployment rate in the 15 to 24 age bracket dropped from 7% to 5.1%, while the unemployment rate among people aged 25 and older fell from 0.6% to 0.5%, the NSO said.
While unemployment generally fell across all regions, Bangkok recorded a slight rise, from 12% in May to 13% in June, according to the NSO.
Despite a marked drop in unemployment in general, university graduates make up the largest group of unemployed, at 139,000 people, followed by high school and vocational school graduates, each group numbering around 72,000 people, said the NSO.
Remote work
Meanwhile, a survey conducted on 150,000 people in 180 countries by SEEK, an Australian online employment marketplace, has found that 76% of Thai respondents were interested in working remotely for a company in another country while still living in Thailand, up from 50% in the previous survey in 2020.
When asked if they also had an interest in working and living overseas, about 66% of the Thai respondents said they did, citing better pay, job opportunities and experience in being part of an international working environment, according to the survey.
The four top destinations for these Thais were Singapore, Australia, the US and China, according to the survey.
The survey also found that Thailand had moved up from 39th spot in 2018 to 31st in the world rankings of top destinations where people want to work abroad, said SEEK.
A high quality of life, friendliness of the local people and a non-discrimination culture, as well as low living costs, were among the top reasons attracting foreigners to work in Thailand, SEEK added.
As of March, there were about 2.7 million foreign workers in Thailand, accounting for 7% of Thailand's entire workforce, said SEEK.
