People apply for jobs at a job fair in Bangkok in 2020. (Photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)
The reopening of the country and a push towards economic recovery are expected to generate double-digit growth in the country’s employment rate this year, according to job search platform JobsDB.
Careers in IT, engineering, digital marketing and those with the skills to support the creation of the metaverse are in short supply, despite an increase in their salaries, JobsDB said.
Hybrid working is a key incentive that can help retain employees and avoid mass quits, the company said.
“We expect Thailand’s employment rate to see double-digit growth this year following the easing of pandemic restrictions over the past two months, with an increase of 20-50% expected, depending on the sector” , said Duangporn Promon, general manager of JobsDB. Recruitment (Thailand).
IT workers have the highest demand since the pandemic and this trend will continue due to digital transformation, she said. Programmers, software developers, data scientists, analysts, and those with skills in IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud operations, and artificial intelligence are the most sought after by IT companies.
“The demand for digital marketers and people with skills that can support the metaverse is also on the rise,” Ms. Duangporn said.
IT was the top occupation in terms of the proportion of companies seeing a salary increase, reported by 41% of companies, followed by sales, customer service and marketing at 40%, education and training at 40%, health and beauty at 39%, and administration at 38%. These figures compare the first nine months of 2021 with the same period a year earlier.
She said hybrid work policies and challenging work are key factors that can attract employees. In the United States and Singapore, remote working has been adopted to reduce quits, while major Thai conglomerates are also continuing the trend, Ms Duangporn said.
Layoffs at startups aren’t expected to increase, but they have occurred at big, loss-making companies such as online marketplace Shopee. Shopee reportedly pursued layoffs in Asean markets, including Thailand.
Against a backdrop of rising inflation, “companies need to seek more revenue to raise salaries for their employees to meet higher costs,” she said.
JobsDB also unveiled its 2022 labor market outlook survey, based on job postings and application data. The computer and IT industry was the top sector for job postings on its platform last year, due to changes in customer behavior on the internet and government support for the adoption of computing devices .
Industry accounted for 11.3% of vacancies, followed by retail and trade with 10.8%, and banking and finance with 8.4%.
The jobs that received the most applications were in sales, customer service and business development with 14.3%, followed by marketing and public relations with 11.7%.