JOBWATCH

THE DOUBLE whammy of weakened foreign markets and a strong pound mean that exports are dropping as British-produced items become more expensive abroad. The impact is that producers have a surplus of goods in the run-up to Christmas. A similar stockpile of goods in the early 1990s was seen as a precursor to the 1990-1992 recession. The result today: redundancies in factories around Britain, and in the City where the value of the pound has led to many financial sector companies announcing job losses.

So far, companies based in the UK mainly servicing the domestic market are faring better than companies relying on international markets, but a lack of confidence as unemployment increases could well lead to further redundancies. A report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research predicts unemployment rising by 400,000 over the next 18 months.

Today we begin a new series monitoring job losses - and gains - announced in Britain in the last week (numbers refer to map locations).

Losses:

1 Cramlington, near Newcastle upon Tyne: 350 jobs at Wilkinson Sword

2 Cwmfelinfach, near Newport, South Wales: 200 jobs as German company Ninkaplast closes plastics factory

3 Peterhead, in north-east Scotland: 200 jobs to go. Tool- making firm Cleveland announces closure of factory

4 Longbridge, West Midlands: 7,000 car workers will be on short time or laid off until after Christmas at Rover when it begins a four-day week in November. Production will halt on 14 December

5 City of London: Daiwa Europe made 50 of its 623 staff redundant

6 City of London: Barclays due to lose 200 jobs over the next few weeks at Barclays Capital investment bank

7 Nationwide: Prudential to close 34 branches, making 300 insurance workers unemployed

Gains:

8 Birmingham: Boots opening new store with 100 new jobs

9 Stansted, Essex: British Airways will add 200 new jobs to its low-cost airline Go in May next year