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STAFF REPORTER

PALMA
A MANPOWER report released yesterday on forecasts for employment levels across Spain said that job losses are likely to run at 6 percent in the Islands which makes the region one of the least affected in the country by the economic recession next year.

Calculations for the report were based on net figures after taking into account those companies which intend to take on more staff and those which want to reduce the number of employees. The study revealed that some areas of the country are going to suffer from a fall-off in jobs of up to at least 13 percent. Catalonia joined the Balearic Islands in being one of the regions less affected in that losses will run up to 6 percent during the first quarter of 2009 in comparison with the same period this year. Other areas of the country are projecting a patchwork of employment scenarios. Looking at the more unfavourable ones, Valencia and Murcia in the East and Andalucia, the Canary Islands and Extremadura in the South are all expecting a downturn in the labour market by 14 percent. In the central area of the country, Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid are forecast to lose 11 percent of jobs as are Asturias, Castilla y Leon and Galicia in the northeast. In the north meanwhile, Aragon, Cantabria, La Rioja, Navarre and the Basque Country will be down by 9 percent.