Welsh call centres

24,000 workers 118 employers 48% of staff are in Cardiff 19% in Swansea 18% in Newport 36% beyond cities 55% handle internet queries Average centre employs 250 Third of centres Cardiff-based 1-in-8 in Swansea 1-in-7 in Newport Growers: Travel, business, healthcare Declining: Finance, banks, energy Source: Cardiff and Newport Call Centre Initiative / WDA

But it comes after Manpower was forced to axe 900 staff at ITV Digital's Pembroke Dock call centre following the collapse of the broadcaster.

And it offers little solace to staff at Cardigan's web-enabled CyberCall centre, which services similar New Economy companies.

Parent company Goldshore is making seven of its 40 staff redundant as it floats on the stock exchange. The rallying call was made on by Wales's call centre umbrella groups on behalf of their members and offers a breakdown of what many regard a shaky source of employment.

The Cardiff and Newport initiative said its research showed the sector would continue to grow across the country.

It indicates the call centre market is now of a similar size and economic importance to the Welsh automotive and electronics sectors, director Sandra Busby said.

Call centres go on despite ITV Digital's collapse

"Since 1999, overall employment has risen by 4,000 to a total of 24,000, and in the same period the number of employers has risen from 79 to 118," she said.

"This shift in emphasis, from having a smaller number of employers with very large workforces to more employers with smaller workforces, is a significant market trend."

She explained the boom in micro call centre - with six or fewer employees - would help reduce reliance on big contracts such as ITV Digital's.

Centre expansion

That will help cushion the blow of job losses such as those seen at Pembroke Dock, she said.

"The expansion of smaller niche employers is a positive move for the industry and means that overall the risk of large-scale job losses is decreasing year on year," she added.

For new technology and communications companies enjoying the dot.com boom of the late 90s, location was considered unimportant and parts of Wales offered cheaper rent and eager staff.

ITV Digital's centre was the biggest private employer in Pembrokeshire

Pembroke Dock's 'Cyber Bay' facility - run by Manpower and 7C - was hailed as "the beginning of a new era" on launch in 2000.

It was the biggest investment for three years in the jobs black spot hit by cutbacks in the local oil industry and military services.

Pembrokeshire County Council was given �1.5m to aid the site as the Welsh Development Agency bankrolled the site.

CyberCall opened at Cardigan's Parc Teifi in the summer of 1999 to take helpdesk calls for a new range of e-commerce and tech companies in the heart of rural west Wales.

Even after the hammer blow of over 1,000 jobs losses this week, the Cardiff and Newport Call Centre Initiative insists it still has a future and said Pembrokeshire's losses can be blamed on the failure of one company, rather than an entire sector of the economy.