The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) reported the Thai people were increasingly in debt and default in the second quarter of this year as well as lower employment and higher unemployment in the period.
NESDB deputy secretary-general Chutinart Wongsuban said that in the second quarter employment dropped by 2.8 per cent and employment in the agricultural sector fell by 17.9 per cent due to drought.
She said unemployment did not raise any concern because one-third of it involved those who never had a job. Despite a high unemployment rate, incomes still increased.
Ms Chutinart said incurred household debts slowed down in accordance with economic situations but default rose, especially with consumer loans. The amount of credit card debts outstanding for longer than three months increased by 28.4 per cent.
There are 1.5 million migrant workers in Thailand and they form 4 per cent of all the people who have jobs in the country. She said there are about 20,000 illegal migrant workers and Thailand has yet to seriously integrate efforts to tackle human trafficking.
The NESDB deputy secretary-general also said that Thailand should speed up improving the productivity of farm labour, comprehensively tackle narcotics, reduce traffic accidents involving passenger vans, push for a law to regulate surrogacy and promote proper age-related development among Thai children.
In the second quarter, the overall number of crimes dropped, but crimes against life, physical harm and sexual crimes tended to be more violent.
