Thailand middle of the pack for jobs growth: study
THAILAND still has plenty of opportunities for jobseekers, with healthcare and manufacturing as the top two industries looking for more human resources to support their growth.
Thailand was third in terms of an employment-growth forecast, according to jobsDB (Thailand) based on an online survey of six Asian countries in January, said Noppawan Chulakanista, the firm’s managing director.
About 22 per cent of employers in the six countries reported that they would expand their business and headcount.
The survey polled 8,000 jobseekers and 3,000 businesses or employers in the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
The survey also found that 43 per cent of Thailand-based firms or employers would expand this year and planned to recruit more workers.
About 39 per cent of employers would fill existing positions or hire more when necessary.
“In Thailand, the demand for specialists and experts remains high to support various business areas such as consumer goods, services and retailing.
“Healthcare and manufacturing are the top two industries that need more experts or special workforces to support their business growth,” she said.
Start-up employers report that they need people with the expertise required to develop new information technologies to support their growth.
The outlook reported that jobseekers believed financial services, telecom and manufacturing industries will face contraction this year.
Many jobseekers held a negative view towards the labour market. Competition between people working in the same field is intensifying and attaining that “dream job” is proving difficult.
Jobseekers list consumer retail, manufacturing, and telecom as the top three industries where they have a good chance of finding the right job.
Employers should view online media as the key for attracting talent in the highly competitive labour market, said Noppawan.
“Businesses should utilise digital media to promote their company profile and business branding, and entice talent to participate in their business since now around 52 per cent of jobseekers go online when they want to go job-hunting.
“Jobseekers also update their profile to gain a better chance of landing a new job,” she said.
Thailand has about 38.5 million people in the labour force and around 400,000 unemployed this year. Employers are looking for people with special expertise and creative skills to support their business, said Noppawan.
