North suffers 'brain drain' following plant closures

Foreign manufacturers are launching a recruitment drive for hi-tech workers made redundant by business closures in Scotland and the north-east of England.

Chip vendor AMD and Onstream, a Dutch electronics company, have sent recruitment specialists to the Siemens Microelectronics factory in Tyneside, closing at the cost of 1,000 jobs.

According to sources, a further eight overseas companies have contacted Fujitsu - which is closing its semiconductor plant in the north-east - and two have already visited the premises.

John Bridge, chief executive of Northern Development Company, said the area was suffering a 'brain drain' because it had already taken its talent from elsewhere.

'When Siemens and Fujitsu started up, recruiting went on nationally and internationally. It is of no surprise that these sort of people are highly mobile and while it would have been nice to hold on to them, I'm sure they will return when the industry does,' he said.

Bridge added that both plants had done well out of the area and helped it develop a reputation for sustaining hi-tech manufacturing. When it booms again, staff will float back and the region will benefit from a 'brain bloat', he claimed.

'It is an issue for conservative societies in the north-east where people no longer work close to the place they were born and live. It is a highly mobile society.'

With no semiconductor plants remaining in the north-east, the 1,600 recently unemployed technical workers have succumbed to overseas offers. Many Siemens staff have taken jobs with the company in the US, Germany, Austria and Taiwan, with another 100 vacancies still to be filled.

In Scotland, Coretec is recruiting for its printed circuit board plant in Canada and has placed adverts in the Borders where Viasystems is closing two factories.