Digital, IT and computing are proven to be the top career choices in Thailand for 2019 according to a report by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. The university’s Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting collected information from various sources such as the Ministry of Labour, National Statistics Agency, job boards and surveys. Research conducted by the university reveals that data scientists, programmers, application developers and data analysts are in demand by employers in Thailand. In the entertainment business, unfamiliar digital job titles, such as vlogger, blogger, YouTuber, E-sport gamer or game caster, have been added to the list of the top ten most desirable careers while e-commerce and online marketers remain popular positions in this year’s poll. This information is strongly supported by another report produced by Adecco Thailand in which IT vacancies were found to be in the top five for 2019 according to the jobs in demand database consisting of 3,000 companies. Positions in IT mentioned as being high in demand by Adecco include programmers, system engineers, system analysts, business analysts, data scientists and data engineers.  

This job trend is being driven by strong internet usage growth in Thailand, as evidenced by We Are Social and Hootsuite’s latest collection of Global Digital 2019 reports and Thailand Internet User Profiles 2018. The reports reveal the following key findings:

• Thai people spend an average of nine hours per day on the internet (all devices); third place in the world ranking
• Thai people spend an average of five hours per day on the mobile phone; first place in the world ranking
• Gen Z and Y are the top internet users, followed by Gen X and Baby Boomers
• The top five internet activities are social media (93.6%), email correspondence (74.2%), information searching (70.9%), entertainment (60.7%), and online purchasing (51.3%) 
• From a total of 69 million Thai citizens, 57 million have access to the internet, 50% of whom live in urban areas

We anticipate growing interest in digital courses at both undergraduate and graduate level. Public talks, showcases on cyber issues or computer science e.g. cybersecurity, app development or data management are encouraged to capitalise on this upturn. Institutional links between Thai and UK universities are also recommended since there is high demand for Thai universities to develop courses to serve industry. Promoting institutions through online influencers who have their own followers (YouTube, Instagram or Facebook) can also increase visibility and engagement with prospective Thai students.

Those interested in the digital market and opportunities in Thailand should please contact Uraiwan Samolee (uraiwan.samolee@britishcouncil.or.th), our Head of Education Services (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar Hub).

Sources:
https://adecco.co.th/th/knowledge-center/detail/top-5-in-demand-job-of-2019
https://www.twfdigital.com/blog/2019/03/thailand-internet-user-profile-2...
https://www.thinkaboutwealth.com/digitalstatworld-thailand2019/
https://thestandard.co/job-trends-2019/
https://www.bangkokbiznews.com/news/detail/824274