Current account deficits may have been too large, but these countries are now running surpluses: Thailand has gone from a deficit of 8 per cent of GDP to the prospect of a surplus, this year, of 4 per cent of GDP. This is being achieved (if that is the right word) through a fall in domestic spending (not through exchange-rate-boosted export growth).
As service businesses like restaurants and stores reopened this summer, many had trouble hiring workers quickly enough to meet the surge in demand. Part of this reflects the reality that it simply takes time for companies to find workers with the right skills, and for workers to find the right jobs.