Economic woes have affected Thais from all walks of life and thosehardest hit are new graduates who face a lot of uncertainty in theirpersonal future and the search for gainful employment.

Pollresults indicate that the unemployment rate among new graduates isexpected to increase, up to a point where 50 percent will be joblessimmediately after they receive their diplomas.

Adding to thepoor prospects, employment rates across the country have also dropped asa result of business closures and sluggish investment.

The ThaiDepartment of Employment estimated that in 2014, there will be at least547,800 people entering the workforce, and around 336,900 of them areBachelor’s Degree graduates, accounting for 61.5 percent of jobapplicants.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI)said that the number of new graduates will outnumber the positionsavailable in many companies by about 50 percent. From this figure, theFTI predicted that at least 150,000 graduates will be unable to findjobs as they try to enter the workforce.

The ThailandDevelopment Research Institute (TDRI) also forecast that this year,Thailand ’s GDP will only grow between 2.5 to 2.7 percent and theunemployment rate will reach 1-1.2 percent in comparison with lastyear’s rate of 0.8 percent.-VNA