The employment situation is expected to improve this year in line with a stronger economy after last year's employment rate dropped by 0.6%.
Porametee Vimolsiri, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), said this year's economic prospects are more promising than last year's, boosted by growing exports and tourism.
The government's planning unit last month increased its export growth forecast to 6.8% from 5%, also raising its GDP growth outlook to 3.6-4.6%, compared with 3.9% in 2017 and 3.3% in 2016.
This year's economic growth will be supported by continued global economic growth, the expansion of Thai government spending, the acceleration of public investment, a clearer private investment recovery and an improvement of household income conditions, Mr Porametee said.
The NESDB reported yesterday that Thailand's employment declined by 0.6% last year, driven by a 1% decline in the non-agricultural sector because of sluggish export growth in the first half of the year.
Despite an export pickup in the second half, employment in the manufacturing sector did not benefit significantly, as more firms adopted advanced production technology with better efficiency.
Industries seeing improvement in employment were transport/warehouses, hotels and restaurants, thanks to expansion in the tourism industry in the second half of the year and fast growth in online trade.
For the agricultural sector, employment grew 0.3%, up from a 4.3% dip in 2016.
The NESDB said employed people totalled 37.45 million last year, down from 37.69 million in 2016. The country's workforce tallied 38.1 million last year, down 0.4% from 38.26 million in 2016.
There were 451,000 unemployed people last year, 1.18% of the total workforce, up from 378,000 or 0.99% in 2016.
Technology caused higher unemployment in 2017, especially for manufacturing, Mr Porametee said. But he said the rate could be offset to a certain extent by a growing economy.