The Thai government has approved a 23.5 billion baht (31.3 baht) funding plan to help graduates find jobs. According to the plan, from October 2020 to October 2021, the Thai government will provide 50% salary subsidy per person to enterprises employing 2019 and 2020 graduates (including undergraduate, junior college and secondary school graduates), which is expected to benefit 260000 people.
Thai Prime Minister bayou said the funding plan is expected to create more jobs for graduates and boost the domestic economy. In addition, the Thai government plans to distribute 3000 THB, a total of 45 billion THB, to each of the 15 million eligible residents to stimulate consumption and increase employment.
Affected by the epidemic situation, the employment situation in Thailand is not optimistic. According to the data, the number of unemployed people in Thailand increased from about 400000 in the first quarter to about 800000 in the second quarter. If there is no improvement in the economic situation in half a year, experts predict that there will still be 2 million people in the future.
Thailand's labor minister, sucha Chongjin, said it was crucial to ensure employment and people's income in the current difficult period. In order to stimulate employment, the Ministry of labor plans to hold a job fair nationwide from September 26 to 28, which is expected to provide 1 million jobs, including government civil servants and overseas labor positions.
The national economic and Social Development Commission of Thailand also proposed to the government that new projects worth about 30 billion baht be provided to the Ministry of agriculture to revitalize agriculture and create more employment opportunities. Danucha, vice chairman of the committee, said the new project aims to increase rural incomes by developing agricultural technology, developing characteristic agricultural products and promoting tourism, and solve the employment problem of nearly 70000 graduates.
The Thai cabinet has also approved the "Lanna Food Tourism Festival" with a budget of THB 48 million. The festival will take the promotion of street food in Chiang Mai as a pilot project and gradually expand to other northern provinces to increase the income of local practitioners and farmers.
The current epidemic has seriously impacted the pillar industries of Thailand's economy - export and tourism. In the second quarter of this year, Thailand's GDP shrank by 12.2% year-on-year, the largest decline since the Asian financial crisis in 1998. Thailand's Ministry of Finance predicts that Thailand's economy will shrink by 8.5% this year. According to Bayu, the government needs to create more pillar industries, launch a large number of fiscal stimulus policies, and promote economic diversification, so as to expand employment and increase national income.