Thailand’s sea slavery problem is also connected to the emergence of the country’s middle class. Among Asia’s “tiger economies,” Thailand’s gross domestic product grew in the late 1980s by an average rate of 9 percent annually, peaking at 13 percent in 1988. Its exports also expanded by an average of 14 percent each year. Wages on land rose, making Thai nationals even less inclined to take jobs offshore. As of 2016, Thailand had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world—generally less than 1 percent.
