Thai unemployment to jump in 2009 -planning agency

BANGKOK Dec 8 (Reuters) - Thailand's unemployment rate is expected to rise to at least 2.0-2.5 percent in 2009, up from the 1.5-2.5 percent projected in November and the 1.4 percent estimated for 2008, the state planning agency said on Monday.

The situation may be even worse, depending on the fallout from recent political unrest, a senior official said.

Thais without a job would average 900,000 in 2009 out of a national labour force of 37.6 million, up from 530,000 in the first nine months of 2008, an official at the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) told reporters.

"This is the impact of the growing global economic and financial crisis that affects Thailand," NESDB Deputy Secretary General Suwanee Kamman said.

Suwanee said the jobless rate next year could be even higher than her new forecast as it did not take into account the effect on the tourist industry of the week-long blockade of Bangkok's airports by anti-government protesters, which ended last Wednesday.

The airport shutdown, stranding hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists, was a huge blow to Thailand's tourist industry, which brings in the equivalent of about 7 percent of gross domestic product. (Reporting by Boontiwa Wichakul; Writing by Vithoon Amorn; Editing by Alan Raybould)