Thailand - Labor Force Employment

For Thailand, survey-based labor force status measures and employment by industry. Data Buffet's geo coverage is the country and Bangkok.

Thailand's labor force statistics are tripartite: employment, unemployment, and "seasonal unemployment" a.k.a. "seasonally inactive labor force." The latter pertains to the large agricultural workforce (about one-third of total employment) which is cyclically unemployed during each dry season (November to May).

Contents

• Working-age population (over 15 years)
• Total labor force
• Persons not in the labor force
• Employed persons
• Unemployed persons
• Current labor force
• Seasonally inactive labor force (unemployed)
• Unemployment rate
• Seasonal unemployment rate

Active:

• Framework: ILO
• Classification: TSIC 2009, aligned with UN ISIC Rev. 4
• Measurements:
  • Thousands of persons (Ths. #)
  • Percentage (%)
• Adjustment: Not seasonally adjusted (NSA) 
• Native frequency: Quarterly
• Start dates:
  • National - As early as 2001Q1
  • Subnational - 2011Q1
• Geo coverage:
  • Country
  • Bangkok metropolis

Predecessor 1:

• TSIC 2009 and monthly - 2001 to 2020 (no archive specifier)

Predecessor 2:

• Industrial classification: TSIC 1989, aligned with UN ISIC Rev. 3
• Geo coverage and date ranges:
• Bangkok - 2001Q1 to 2010Q4
• Country - 2007Q1 to 2010Q4
• Regions (3: Central, Northern, Northeast) - 2007Q1 to 2010Q4

Labor force statistics survey according to concepts and principles of International Labour Organization (ILO) and United Nation (UN). National Statistical Organization of Thailand has adopted concepts and definitions since the first time in 1993 to make consistency according to the real social and economic situations of Thailand even though user requirements. The improvement has continued since the first quarter in 2011 and determined the minimum age of labour force at 15 years old.

The survey is conducted simultaneously for all surveyed units nationwide during days 1 to 12 of each month. Data are collected by NSO officers through interview with head or member of the household units participated in the survey. Data compilation is based on weighted average of sampled data, the details of which appear in the NSO’s website under the topic “Labour Force Survey”.

The source writes:

The  objective  of  the  survey  is  to  collect  data  on  the economic activities of the population, including detailed information on employment and unemployment, characteristics of the labor force and economically inactive persons. Households covered in the survey are private households and special households (which include persons living in group, or in quarters within the compound of a factory or in a dormitory).

A Stratified Two-Stage Sampling was adopted. Provinces were constituted strata. The primary and secondary sampling units were blocks for municipal areas, villages for non-municipal areas and private households/ persons in the special households respectively. Stratification Provinces were constituted strata. There were altogether 76 Strata. Each stratum was divided into two parts according to the type of local administration, namely municipal areas and non-municipal areas. Selection of primary sampling units. The sample selection of blocks/villages was performed separately and independently. Labor force information was obtained through interviewing method of head or member of households by experienced enumerators.

The survey is based on the sample estimates and would be subject to both sampling and non-sampling errors.

Definitions

Employed persons - Persons, 15 years of age and over who during the survey week:

1. worked for at least one hour for wages/salary, profits, dividends or any other kind of payment, in kind; or
2. did not work at all or worked less than one hour but
   1. receives wage/salary, profits from business enterprise or farm during the period of absence; or
   2. not receive wage/salary, profits from business enterprise or farm during the period of absence but had regular jobs or business that they would be return to work.
3. worked for at least one hour without pay in business enterprises or on farms owned or operated by household heads or members.

Industry - Refers to the nature of economic activity undertaken in the establishment in which a person worked or the nature of business in which he was engaged during the survey week. If a person had more than one job, the industry corresponding to the occupation recorded was asked.

Moody's Analytics supplements

We compute seasonally adjusted counterparts for the LFS quartet using the X-13ARIMA-SEATS program. We update factors annually.

For Bangkok, we construct six estimated series (concept codes RLB^Q and XRLB^Q) that are adjusted for geo breaks at 2005Q3 and 2014Q1.

For employment by industry, we construct SA counterparts for the broad aggregates "agriculture" and "non-agriculture."

Potentially.

Since January 2014 change estimation which adjusted from population census 2010.

Further reading

At the sources:

• https://www.bot.or.th/App/BTWS_STAT/statistics/DownloadFile.aspx?file=EC_RL_009_S4_ENG.PDF
• http://web.nso.go.th/eng/stat/lfs_e/lfse.htm

At IMF (SDDS):

• Labor market: Employment
• Labor market: Unemployment