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4 June 2004
MADRID – At least 37 multinationals have left or started to leave Spain for other countries, especially in Eastern Europe, since 2001, the business newspaper La Gaceta de los Negocios reported Friday.
The departures, some of which have not been completed, will mean the loss of 17,000 direct jobs through 2006.
The multinationals include Lear, Lucent, Alcatel and Samsung.
Cutting costs and exploiting lower labour bills in Eastern Europe are the main reasons for the moves.
The latest to follow the trend is the United States’ Levi Strauss, which on Thursday announced it was shutting down factories in Gerona, in northeast Spain, and Soria, in the north.
According to La Gaceta de los Negocios, some companies have moved within Spain, to autonomous regions that offer tax incentives to do so.
Catalonia appears to be hardest hit by the trend, followed by the regions of Madrid and Valencia.
No fewer than 18 multinationals have either left or are in the process of leaving Catalonia, taking some 7,500 jobs with them.
[Copyright EFE with Expatica]
Subject: Spanish news