Some 1,307 Thai companies went bankrupt in January, 53.7 percent higher than that of the same period of 2008, due to the global economic crisis, Thailand's Department of Business Development said Tuesday, quoted by the website of Bangkok Post.
The bankrupt companies were in the construction, real estate and service-related sectors, while some 459 of the total were in Bangkok and the other 848 were in other provinces, the department said.
The Fiscal Police Office has estimated that about 1.2 million workers, or about 4.2 per cent of the total work force, would be unemployed this year, while the government's economic stimulus measures may provide only 180,000 new jobs.
However, the country had the advantage of relocating workers from the commercial sector to the agricultural sector, said the department.