The Land of Smiles was named the least miserable country out of 66 economies ranked by the Bloomberg Misery Index, which assumes that low inflation and low unemployment translates into satisfaction among the populace, finishing in first place for the fourth straight year and just edging out its regional rivals.
“The Bloomberg Misery Index relies on the age-old concept that low inflation and unemployment generally illustrate how good an economy’s residents should feel,’’ the news and research agency said in posting the results on its website.
Thailand has had persistently low unemployment for many years, the unemployment rate ranging between 0.4-1.2% since 2011. A remarkable result. Many workers who do lose their job in the formal sector are able to be gainfully employed in the informal sector of the economy, and still support themselves and their families. Street vendors and motorcycle taxi drivers belong to this latter category.
According to the Bank of Thailand, the country’s inflation rate was low at 0.66% last year while the country’s unemployment rate was 1.04%.
“Inflation in Thailand has also been consistently low,” Bloomberg said. Thailand’s consumer confidence has been steadily rising along with business and industrial confidence.
Bloomberg also said that “The results largely signal a global economic outlook that remains bright overall: Economists are penciling in 3.7 percent year-on-year growth for the world in 2018, matching last year’s pace that was the best since 2011, according to the Bloomberg survey median.”
Times comment:-The way that all this is calculated is shaky to say the least. Determining who is employed in Thailand and who isn’t is extremely difficult. Do they mean full employment or is part-time taken into consideration.
Also the least miserable doesn’t automatically mean the most happy and the value of this study has to be questioned. But on the bright side, it’s good to know that it’s not only for road deaths that Thailand is the world’s number one !
(Source:-Andrew J Wood