BANGKOK — Wanchalerm Noomuean yearns for the days he was known in Phuket as tour guide Jimmy, and every month showed hundreds of international visitors around the famous Thai island.
COVID-19 wiped out the 31-year-old’s job 15 months ago. While Jimmy remained in Phuket and the Thai government from July started allowing into the island inoculated international visitors, the number is tiny and there is no demand for tour guides. The outlook for Jimmy getting back a job he loved isn’t good.
“I forgot how to speak English already,” he said, smiling wanly. To pay his bills, Jimmy sold off some jewelry and a car. He ekes out an income by occasionally cooking and selling pad thai noodles at the garage of a tenement he rents.
Jimmy is part of Thailand’s growing ranks of unemployed or barely employed, though he wouldn’t be counted in the official statistics on the jobless total because Thailand…
