Thai Economy Recovering Faster by Offering Jobs and Higher Pay

Employment in the case of Thailand, or unemployment as in the case of the USA, is the leading, lagging indicator of the fnancial health of a country’s economy. This indicates Thailand’s quick economic recovery ahead of the developed countries hardest high by the global fnancial crisis of 2007.

Also, the index that rates the overall sentiment of the economy by business people is another main indicator. Thailand ranked highest in both studies.

Despite the Thaksin Supreme Court ruling where he will lose  half of his almost  US $3 billion held by the court in Thailand and the expected repercussions, Thailand still may weather this storm.  Compared to other countries, Thailand has a sound economy diverse in agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, exporting and services.

The "Grant Thornton International Business Report" released this week shows 61 percent of Thai businesses expect to increase 2010 salaries to keep up with infation. Thailand is now at the top of the list of the 36 countries examined in the survey.

Thailand is followed by Vietnam and China in the ranking.

The well-respected report also said, contrary to the global average, Thai employees will make more money than they did last year.

“In Pattaya, anyone who is qualifed and wants to work can get a job. Particularly in sales. The Pattaya job market has a shortage of workers and placement in the right companies is important,” said Ms. Au Pichayapak of the Pattaya Jobs Center.

There are higher paying jobs as more businesses open in Pattaya, Bangkok and other major cities in Thailand, so it is a good market for job-seekers or those wishing to make more money in a new job.

"Employers need to pay special attention to keep their key staff now, before it's too late. Many employees have looked at job security before new opportunities in the last four to six quarters. This is changing and employees will again be tempted by interesting job opportunities as the economy improves," said Tom Sorensen, partner at Grant Thornton in Thailand.

In Pattaya, with the opening last year of the Central Festival Pattaya Beach shopping mall, the recent opening of Makro Cash and Carry store and the new resort hotels like Centura Resort in Nalua are all offering great employment opportunities.

Of the 36 countries’ economies surveyed about the trend in the number of employees, Thailand made the biggest gain of all 36 countries with an increase of 21 percentage points year over year.

Analysis on Bloomberg Financial news state that the emerging market economies of Thailand, India, China and Vietnam will outperform the developed countries like America, Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany by more than 500 percent.

“The growth will be in Asia.  Old economies are dying, or fghting to survive,” one analyst added.

"The key fgure to note is that the percentage of Thai respondents indicating that the number of employees had increased outweighs those reporting a decrease for the frst time in three years. Thailand is followed by Vietnam and China. Since the final quarter of last year, we are seeing companies hiring more staff to salesrelated jobs than to any other function. Perhaps it's a sign of light at the end of the tunnel," Sorensen said.

Businesses in 29 of the 36 economies surveyed expect to increase staff numbers in 2010.

The global employment index shows businesses in some of the world's developed economies suffering the greatest decreases in employee numbers, including Ireland (with a balance of minus 54 percent), Spain and Denmark (both minus 38 percent) and the US (minus 33 percent).

Emerging markets enjoyed some of the biggest increases in employees during 2009, including Vietnam (plus 54 percent), India (plus 33 percent), Botswana (plus 31 percent) and the Philippines (plus 29 percent).

Alex MacBeath of Grant Thornton, said: "Employment typically lags behind other factors when countries emerge from recession, as these results demonstrate. While job losses have been harsh in some economies, one of the features of this global recession is that unemployment has not, so far, been as high as originally feared. It is typical of the adaptability of privately held businesses that they have striven to retain their staff during the year."