Thailand suffers labour shortage

Unemployment rate dipping to below 1% and an ageing population are bad signs.

According to Macquarie, Thailand‟s unemployment rate has declined from 6% in 2000 to below 1% in June 2012. The tightness in the labour market is now leading to an acceleration in wage inflation with the average monthly wage rising 17% QoQ in 2Q11, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating wage growth.

Here's more from Macquarie:

Demographic trends suggest the labour market is likely to get even tighter. Population growth in Thailand is the lowest in Asean (2007-10 CAGR of 0.66%) due to a slowing birth rate, and Thai society is become an aging society.

The number of Thais aged 65 and above account for 8.9% of the total population, the second-highest proportion in Asean. Thais younger than 15 years-old make up 20.5%, the second-lowest in Asean.

Immigrant labour has been used to meet rising demand with official measures of the immigrant labour force showing a 27%, four-year CAGR in the number of workers to 1.95m, or 5% of the entire labour force in 2011. We do not expect further significant growth in the alien workforce. The introduction of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 will support mobility of skilled labour, but not unskilled labour.

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