The annual National Statistics Office Labor Force Survey for Thailand is used to "estimate the number and characteristics of the labor force in the country."

Background and objective

     Labor force statistics have been compiled by the National Statistical Office since 1963 when the survey was initiated. The year 1984-1997 three rounds of the survey for the whole kingdom had been conducted each year; the first round enumeration is held in February coinciding with the non-agricultural season, the second round is normally held in May in with new labor force come from students who just finish their schooling and the third round is held in August, during the agricultural season. Commencing from the year 1998, another round of the survey in November has been conducted.

     Due to the increasing demand of data for formulating plans and policy at provincial level, the National Statistical Office has expanded sample size to propose statistical data at provincial level commencing from survey in February and August, 1994. For the fourth round in November 1998, data was presented at the first time and presentation data at provincial level.

     After the economic crisis in the mid of 1997, the need of labor force data for planning and policy making were more in demand. In the year of 2001, the survey was conducted monthly. The survey data of three months were combined to present the quarterly. Data of February, May and August were presented in order to compare with the previous labor force survey and since September 2001, data were presented monthly. Beginning from the survey in January 2001, 5 items has been revised; age of persons in labor force was adopted from 13 years of age and over to 15 years of age and over in order to agree with the child labor law. The standard classification of occupation, industry and employment status were adopted, and area of local administration which the former sanitary which were included in non-municipal area were presently included in municipal area.

     The main objective of this survey is to estimate the number and characteristics of the labor force in the country and in different regions periodically.The statistical data derived from this quarter of the survey include:

1. The number of persons in and out of the working age (15 years and over) by sex
2. The number of working age population by labor force status, age, sex, marital status, educational attainment
3. The number of employed persons by interesting characteristics such as age, sex, educational attainment, occupation, industry, work status, hours work,
4. The number of unemployed persons by interesting characteristics e.g. duration of searching for job, type of previous work.

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    The Labor Force Survey has been undertaken by the National Statistical Office since 1963, Beginnings in 1971, two rounds of the survey for the whole kingdom had been conducted each year, the first round enumeration was held during January-March coinciding with the non-agricultural season and the second round during July-September coinciding with the agricultural season. From 1984-1997, the survey has been conducted 3 rounds a year. And since 1998, the fourth rounds of the survey for the whole kingdom has been conduted additionally. Sincethen, the Labor Force Survey has been undertaken 4 rounds a year; the first round in February, the second in May, the third and the fourth round in August and November respectively.

     Commencing from survey in 1994, the National Statistical Office has expanded the simple size to serve the requirement of data at provincial level.

     In the year of 2001 the survey was conducted monthly, and the survey data of three months were combined to present the quarterly data. The age of persons in labor force were changed from 13 years of age and over to 15 years of age and over in order to agree with the child labor law. The international standard of classification in occupation, industry and status of employment were adopted, and area of local administration which the formar sanitary district were included in non-municipal area were presently included in municipal area.

     This publication presents the results of the Labor Force Survey conducted in January-March 2009. It is the one hundred and twenty-nine in this series of reports.

     The published figures should be utilized with full awareness that the survey was based on the sample estimates, and would be subject to both sampling and non-sampling errors.-->