Govt to keep unemployment rate under 1%

BANGKOK, March 19 (TNA) -- The government is putting effort to keep unemployment rate at the maximum of one per cent since it has administered the country in September 2014, said a spokesman to the Prime Minister’s Office. Spokesman Major Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd said this government is administering the country while global economy is sluggish and several countries are being affected. Many countries are having unemployment rate higher than Thailand, he said. For example, France’s unemployment rate is at 10.4 per cent, the US at 7.4 per cent, Indonesia 6.3 per cent, Germany 5.3 per cent, Japan 4 per cent, Malaysia 3.2 per cent and Singapore 2.8 per cent. “Low unemployment has made Thailand the happiest economies in the world, based on a survey by Bloomberg News,” said Maj Gen Sansern, adding that the government would not neglect unemployed people by opening the ‘Smart Job Centre’ and has just opened ‘Smart Training Centre’ to provide occupational knowledge to them. In 2015, a total of 446,618 unemployed persons were able to get jobs, said Maj Gen Sansern. A total of 67,361 persons received jobs during the first two months this year. He quoted official statistic released by the Social Security Office as saying that another 291,425 persons were employed in February this year compared to the same period of 2015. There are signs that those unemployed under the Social Security system would either set up their own establishments or performing freelance jobs, he added. (TNA)