During this Plan period, the labor force increased at an average rate of 3.0 percent per year, including a sharp increase in the proportion of the labor force educated. With slow economic growth and the consequent slow employment-generation rate, unemployment increased. To sum up, at the end of the Fifth Plan period, the major economic issues faced by Thailand were economic instability, resource depletion, poverty, employment generation, development management system, and unfavorable external economic conditions (Abonyi and Bunyaraks 1989, 40-42).