Thailand’s aspiring tech professionals have long looked to computer science as a sure path to lucrative employment. However, new research suggests this once-reliable route may be faltering—reflecting unexpected global shifts that are raising urgent questions for education policy and career planning in the Kingdom. According to a recent report by the New York Federal Reserve, unemployment rates among recent computer science (CS) and computer engineering graduates in the United States have surged, ranking among the highest for all majors and exposing vulnerabilities in the supposed “future-proof” tech job market (New York Fed).
What makes this data so significant for Thai readers is Thailand’s decision in recent years to heavily promote digital literacy and coding education across the nation’s schools and universities. Policymakers—mirroring trends in Europe, North America, and Asia—have encouraged a generation of students to “learn to code” under the assumption it guarantees employability and wage growth. Thai parents, educators, and students have followed suit, with university CS programmes seeing increased enrolment and private coding schools proliferating in Bangkok and major provincial centres. As these international unemployment trends crystalise, however, they challenge Thailand’s prevailing wisdom about education, skill formation, and the promise of high-tech careers.
The New York Federal Reserve’s 2025 labour market report reveals that new CS graduates in the US are facing an unemployment rate of 6.1%, while those with computer engineering degrees face an even higher figure of 7.5%. By comparison, the average unemployment rate for all recent university graduates is 5.8% (Allwork.Space; Entrepreneur). Once heralded as a “gold standard”, computer science now ranks as the seventh-worst major for new graduate employability in the US—worse even than journalism at 4.4%. More alarmingly, CS and engineering now trail only anthropology (9.4%) and physics (7.8%) among fields with the highest recent-graduate unemployment, suggesting a broader malaise in STEM employment pathways.
Expert commentary included in recent Newsweek analysis, echoed by Thai industry observers, pins blame on a combination of factors. A prominent Bangkok-based human resources consultant told the Bangkok Post: “We’ve seen the same trends in Thailand: too many graduates chasing too few entry-level tech jobs, while big companies automate and offshore what used to be steady employment.” Similarly, US-based HR and business consultant Bryan Driscoll explained to Newsweek, “We’ve overproduced degrees without addressing how exploitative and gatekept the tech hiring pipeline has become. Entry-level roles are vanishing, unpaid internships are still rampant, and companies are offshoring or automating the very jobs these grads trained for” (Futurism).
The disruptive influence of artificial intelligence looms large. As global tech giants and SMEs automate previously human-intensive roles, graduates face direct competition with powerful AI platforms that can write code, debug software, and replace entire teams (Forbes). Michael Ryan, finance expert and owner of MichaelRyanMoney.com, provides a blunt assessment: “Every kid with a laptop thinks they’re the next Zuckerberg, but most can’t debug their way out of a paper bag. We created a gold rush mentality around coding right as the gold ran out. Companies are cutting engineering budgets by 40 percent while CS enrolment hits record highs. It’s basic economics. Flood the market, crater the wages.” His words echo warnings by Thai university deans and computer science faculty, who have noted an “arms race” in credentials but a steep shortage of practical, workplace-ready opportunities.
The stakes for Thailand are enormous. As the country’s 20-year National Strategy and Thailand 4.0 policy emphasise digital transformation, educators have pushed coding from primary grades through to university, complemented by government-backed hackathons and coding bootcamps. Yet if global markets signal declining returns on these investments, the risk is a growing population of skilled-but-underemployed youths, mirroring what labour economists call “graduate unemployment” or “educated unemployment” (Wikipedia). This phenomenon is often aggravated by universities failing to keep curriculum current with industry needs, resulting in a disconnect between classroom learning and employer requirements.
The issue also highlights historical and cultural patterns in education-to-work pipelines, both globally and in Thailand. For much of the last two decades, STEM fields—and computer science in particular—were deemed the safest path for students from middle-class and working-class homes to move up socioeconomically. Thai families invested in costly after-school coding classes, and urban youth in particular gravitated to degree programmes with high prestige and earning potential. In this climate, the suggestion of “learning to code” was almost axiomatic, promoted by policymakers, tech companies, and education influencers alike. Today, as companies cut engineering budgets and shift recruitment overseas or to machines, it is no longer guaranteed that a CS degree grounds a prosperous future (Financial Express).
Future developments in labour markets will depend on the pace of automation, ongoing layoffs by multinational tech firms, as well as the potential for AI to augment or displace human workers in fields like coding, testing, and cybersecurity. According to a 2024 study documented by Oxford Economics, recent college-graduate unemployment globally has spiked since mid-2023, with STEM majors—and particularly computer science—bearing the brunt (CBS News). The critical questions for Thailand are whether its universities can adapt CS curricula to emerging needs (AI, cybersecurity, human-computer interaction), how the private sector can be engaged in meaningful internship and apprenticeship opportunities, and whether new “AI-proof” majors or specializations—blending technical, creative, and human capabilities—can be developed (Forbes).
For Thai students and policymakers, the path forward demands realism and agility. Students should be encouraged to supplement core coding and CS knowledge with broader “soft skills”: creativity, critical thinking, communication, and lifelong learning—attributes less easily automated. Universities must partner with industry to ensure coursework and internships reflect real employer needs. Companies should be incentivised to create genuine entry-level opportunities, not just senior roles or unpaid internships. Thailand’s Office of the Basic Education Commission and Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation could also consider supporting continuous curricular reforms, data-driven career counselling, and a broader societal discussion about the risks of over-specialisation in rapidly shifting technology fields.
For parents and students, the message is not to abandon computer science, but to approach it with informed caution and a willingness to diversify. Embracing double majors, interdisciplinary studies, or practical hands-on projects may improve employability. Likewise, monitoring international job-market data—as provided by the New York Fed and others—will help ensure that Thailand’s burgeoning tech workforce can thrive amid changing winds.
Information for this report was sourced from the New York Federal Reserve (newyorkfed.org), recent reporting by Futurism (futurism.com), Newsweek, CBS News, and additional academic research as summarised in Wikipedia.