Thailand’s unemployment up 28% in Q1/09

BANGKOK, June 23 (TNA) – Thailand’s unemployment during the first quarter of this year soared 27.87 per cent from the corresponding period of 2008, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.

The spokesman quoted the National Statistical Office as saying that 780,000 people nationwide were jobless during the first quarter of 2009, up 170,000 from a year ago.

The largest number of unemployed during the first three months this year was in the production sector with 280,000 jobless, followed by the service and trade sector with 190,000 out of work and agriculture with 130,000 people, he said.

The highest unemployment rate was in the southern region where 2.6 per cent of the workforce was unemployed. Bangkok had the lowest unemployment rate at 1.4 per cent during the three-month period. (TNA)