More People In Thailand Lose Jobs Due To Last Year's Flood Crisis

[Nisa]

And the jobless figure after the 2012 floods will be..........?

With about 35 million people of working age in Thailand, these numbers out of work due to the flood are minuscule. The flooding also has created numerous jobs.

They MAY be minuscule in the big picture BUT bear in mind that these job losses are in very small areas SO affecting a great many more people with business etc. The fact that many factories are delaying complete rebuilding tells us a lot about their confidence in this Governments ability to counter another expected flood this year.

I am not sure there is any fact that "many" factories are delaying anything in terms of getting back to productivity but those who can afford to stay down without serious economic consequences are probably delaying because of NOT thinking about moving out of Thailand but maybe out of a flood plain.

[Nisa]

This is sad news. I have to admit, if these figures are accurate, I truly didn't think this many companies and workers would be effected for this long. I really thought they had more time to prepare for the floods and it would just be a month of intense clean-up for many companies. I wonder if part of the issue is lack of availability of the right workers that are needed for clean-up, maintenance, electrical and all that.

Many companies in Pathum Thani (Bangkadi Ind Park) were not prepared for the floods - not to the level the water came up to. In my case, we had expected maybe 1 m of water but it went above 2~2,5m. Entire 1st floors of literally all the factories were destroyed,

For us, most of the exoensive machnes (all on 1st floor were destroyed) expect thise we had moved to to an old factory (fortunately not yet sold) the day before the floods came in. Those stwuff we had place on tables (floor was akready 1m above the ground level outside) were all submerged.

I'm still amazed how the company (being Thai) manged to recover (mostly) from the flood and move on, buying new much equipment and re-startup. I can see many companies in that Industrial park still not really fully operatiional. Who says all Thai mgt are bad? My expreicne is vrey different, and ironically I have more confidence in the Mgt now than before the floods. We have moved back but retain the old factory as a smaller ooertation, just in case.

Curious if you know if the companies have any kind of flood insurance. Even in the US in non-flood areas (even those which are next to impossible to flood) private insurers will not insure for flooding, it goes through a government program that regardless of loss will only pay a maximum of $250,000 for homes and $500,000 for commercial property. This may sound like a lot but it really isn't when you consider costs in many places in the USA. And if you reside in a flood risk area it is near impossible to get insurance without having to pay outrageous rates.

[DeepInTheForest]

A lot of heavy machinery was damaged. Some businesses packed up and left, I believe. Confidence has been severely shaken. These figures are not so surprising, in that context.

This is sad news. I have to admit, if these figures are accurate, I truly didn't think this many companies and workers would be effected for this long. I really thought they had more time to prepare for the floods and it would just be a month of intense clean-up for many companies. I wonder if part of the issue is lack of availability of the right workers that are needed for clean-up, maintenance, electrical and all that.

Hello Burma.....get their electric problems resolved and hello Japanese industry.... Goodbye the Hub of corruption....

So Burma is less corrupt, you think?

[cloudhopper]

With about 35 million people of working age in Thailand, these numbers out of work due to the flood are minuscule. The flooding also has created numerous jobs.

These numbers are a government fantasy. I suggest you google "broken window fallacy".

[tlansford]

And the jobless figure after the 2012 floods will be..........?

With about 35 million people of working age in Thailand, these numbers out of work due to the flood are minuscule. The flooding also has created numerous jobs.

Agreed. My 2 brother in laws are both working on electrical repairs post-flood in BKK.

iSupply also just sent the news that some flooded hard-drive manufacturing has re-opened now.

[Reasonableman]

Looks like becoming an annual economic stimulus. If we could synchronize typhoons, earthquakes, and tsunamis to an annual cycle, we'd probably have full employment most of the year.

And the jobless figure after the 2012 floods will be..........?

With about 35 million people of working age in Thailand, these numbers out of work due to the flood are minuscule. The flooding also has created numerous jobs.

Agreed. My 2 brother in laws are both working on electrical repairs post-flood in BKK.

iSupply also just sent the news that some flooded hard-drive manufacturing has re-opened now.

[thanchart]

Curious if you know if the companies have any kind of flood insurance. Even in the US in non-flood areas (even those which are next to impossible to flood) private insurers will not insure for flooding, it goes through a government program that regardless of loss will only pay a maximum of $250,000 for homes and $500,000 for commercial property. This may sound like a lot but it really isn't when you consider costs in many places in the USA. And if you reside in a flood risk area it is near impossible to get insurance without having to pay outrageous rates.

I can only speak for the company I am in,. We were insured 100% from the losses as Mgt was wise enough to buy "1st class" insurance. We had been told by our machines suppliers (some millions of baht each) that the equipment can only be refurbished if they had not beeen submerged > 1 week, so the insurance surveyors had told us to write off literally 100% of those equipment and materials underwater. What I do not know is whether we will get similar coverage from now on.

So we are mot taking chances and from now. all expensive and unmovable equipment will be on higher levels and unless the flood if it comes, is significantly higher than last year's level, we can manage the risk. Only low cost stuff will be at the ground level, and I am even thinking we should turn that level into recreational areas. For the size of the 2 factories we have in that Ind Park, that would be quite sizable area we can use 555

The main reason why we could recover fast was decisions were made internally w/o waiting for lengthy HQ response, which I suspect will be the case for almost all overseas companies and also we did not even bother to wait for insurance payouts. What was important was the need to restore customer confidence and let customer feel we can recover to previous production levels within a short time, and we managed to do it. Now we are taking the chance to reengineer the way the company works, that this is an exciting time.

Edited February 18, 2012 by thanchart