Reuters

Thailand`s unemployment rate hit a three-year low in the first quarter, the state planning agency said on Monday, declining to 1.05% from 1.15% in the last three months of 2022 as recovery in the crucial tourism industry strengthened.

Southeast Asia`s second-largest economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter, driven by the continued pickup in the travel sector, a key source of jobs that was decimated by the pandemic.

Employment increased 2.4% in January-March from a year earlier, up from a 1.5% rise in the previous three months, the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) said in a statement.

The jobless rate in January-March, with 420,000 unemployed, was the lowest since the 1.03% recorded in the first quarter of 2020, before the economy felt the full impacts of the pandemic.

Thailand`s definition of unemployment is narrow, however, and only counts as jobless those who do not work a single hour in a surveyed week. Analysts say the figures do not catch Thailand`s significant unofficial economy.