Jobs found for 8,000 laid off in floods

The department is building up a Labour Bank of job vacancies, which so far totals 147,365 listings including 28,456 positions in need of urgent filling in Chon Buri, Rayong, Prachin Buri and Chachoengsao. The Labour Bank also contains details on 16,000 vacancies abroad.

The 8,075 registered workers have been accepted by prospective employers, and the positions will be taken up from next month, when the employers are expected to complete repairs and renovations. There are now 9,500 people unemployed because of flooding, and the department believes the number will not reach the 920,000 projected in a recent national estimate, Prawit said.

The Labour Ministry has estimated the number of jobless at about 100,000, but many of these do not have the qualifications for the approximately 140,000 positions the ministry estimates are available, he added.

Meanwhile, the Social Security Office's decision to allow employers to pay lower monthly contributions next year as a floodrelief measure would not affected beneficiaries' rights, said permanent secretary Somkiat Chayasriwong as SSO chairman.

There are still sufficient funds to make payments to beneficiaries for death, workrelated disabilities, and delivery of children, he said. The SSO decided on Thursday that employers' contributions would be reduced from 5 per cent to 3 per cent from January to June 2012, and to 4 per cent from July to December next year.