Low orders force factories to lay off 2,600 employees

About 2,600 factory workers have been laid off over the past two days as their employers were forced to scale down operations due to financial problems.
According to a post on a Facebook page called Noom-sao Rongngan (“Young Factory Workers”), an electric vehicle manufacturer in Chachoengsao announced in a letter dated Oct 25 that it will lay off 600 workers, effective Dec 1.
The company cited declining orders and rising expenses as reasons for the layoffs in the announcement and promised to compensate affected workers as required by the law.
Separately on Wednesday, a post on Bang Pu Industrial Estate’s Facebook page said 2,000 workers of Marigot Jewellery, a well-known jewellery factory in Samut Prakan, will be laid off effective Jan 1.
According to figures released by Jobsdb by Seek, an online job search platform, the number of managers and executives who are open to new roles went up in the first half of the year. The figures reflect the nation’s slow economic recovery and sluggish industrial demand in the first half of 2024, which could lead to more layoffs and factory closures.
According to the Federation of Thai Industries, over 360 factories with a total investment value of at least 9.4 billion baht have shut down in the first half of the year. The shutdowns have resulted in more than 10,000 workers being laid off — higher than the average for the past two years.