EconThai worried about rising underemployment published : 31 May 2021 at 04:30 EconThai vice-chairman Tanit Sorat says that the third outbreak, which erupted in April this year, is expected to increase the unemployment figures. (Photo by Varuth Hirunyatheb) The Employers' Confederation of Thai Trade and Industry (EconThai) is concerned about the growing underemployment rate that is affecting people's purchasing power after the number of unemployed individuals reached 4.3 million since the Covid-19 outbreak began in Thailand. Underemployment refers to workers who work between 0-20 hours. They are not unemployed, according to the Labour Ministry, which is the usual measure consulted when assessing economic health. But the rapid increase in the number of underemployed workers, which rose from 2.3 million workers in December last year to 4.3 million in March this year, caught the interest of EconThai.