The Labour Ministry will set up onestop service centres in all provinces to help those recently laid off. From January 119, 35 businesses folded, throwing 1,950 workers out of a job, Somchai Chumrat, permanent secretary of the ministry, said yesterday.

And 39 establishments, mostly electronics parts makers, were on the verge of going under, threatening 28,573 employees, he said.

The project would use the centre in Ayutthaya as the nationwide model.

Services would include registering retrenched workers with the Social Security Office for unemployment compensation, assisting them in job searches and providing them skills retraining.

The centre's chief would work with the governor to care for the needs of the unemployed in the province as well as plan to support homecoming workers in provinces with no layoffs.