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Thanet Sanitvanee, a job placement official in Songkhla, said unemployment in the province had risen to 10,000 as manufacturing plants scale down operations to cope with falling orders.

"Officers have approached manufacturers who can afford more workers," he said.

In the past week, about 200 workers, mostly in parawood furniture plants, were laid off. He said most operators had cut overtime payments and told workers to work on alternate days to avoid lay-offs. However, this would help only briefly. If the global economy does not pick up in the first quarter of next year, lay-offs would spiral.

There is demand for unskilled workers among industrial manufacturers, but 90 per cent of the unemployed refuse to take the jobs.

Phoonsin Sinthanaphat, chairman of Phuket Bankers Club, said the shutdown of Suvarnabhumi Airport had affected the tourism industry in Phuket and other provinces on the Andaman Coast. This was exacerbated by the economic slowdown in the US and Europe, which has discouraged travel.

He said that in October and November, the provinces auto-leasing business had dropped by 20 per cent from the same period last year, as it now involved only 700 vehicles from the previous 1,000.

"The government must kick-start mega-project investment to restore investor confidence, and this will attract back investment and tourists," he added.

Phairat Serisathiensap, manager of the Siam Commercial Bank branch in Phuket town, said the most obvious impact on banks was a decline in foreign-exchange business as the number of tourists dropped.

Wih the job outlook bleak, auto dealers in Chiang Mai are witnessing a slowdown in activity.

Phairat Yapanya, president of the auto dealers club in the province, said that so far this year, sales had fallen by 10 per cent from last year, due largely to high oil prices earlier in the year.

He expects the situation to get worse next year.

Due to the global economic slowdown, financial houses are expected to adopt stricter lending criteria, while consumers will mostly focus on vehicles priced between Bt400,000 and Bt500,000.

Amid the bad news, Nanyang Garment, a manufacturing subcontractor of Nike, has won a new contract to supply 1.2 million shirts a month.

Ploynisa Mit-iam, the company's production manager, said the plant - which employs 2,000 workers - was looking for 1,000 additional workers.

"We have not seen any impact due to product quality standards. The manufacturing subcontract has been continued for 10 years, as we assured them that our plant would thrive amid the economic slowdown," she said.

The Labour Ministry on Tuesday announced that 118,304 jobs were now available and it would start hosting a job market, where those interested could meet business operators. Starting next month, training courses will be available every Saturday at the ministry and job placement offices.

Meanwhile, the Board of Investment's Regional Investment and Economic Centre 3 (Khon Kaen) will next week start a survey on the number of export companies affected by the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport, and the exact damage figures.

Chutima Phumsrisawat, director of the office, said that at least 20 export-import companies in the region had been affected.

The office is now concerned about the unemployment situation due to the global economic slump.

"So far, no firms have shut down operations or laid off workers, but some have cut overtime payments," she said.

Business shutdowns will affect the regional economy, which attracted only 37 investment applications in the first 11 months of the year due to concerns over the domestic political chaos.