Year 2000 Inaction Threatens 300,000 UK Jobs-survey
LONDON (Reuters) - Failure to tackle millennium computer problems threatens as many as 300,000 jobs among small and medium sized British firms, according to Prove It 2000, a UK-based supplier of millennium software. Some 38,400 businesses are at risk of closure as a result of not tackling the Year 2000 issue, Prove It 2000 found after a two month research program of telephone research among 10,000 companies employing up to 250 people each.
About 80 percent of companies said they have not yet begun to tackle the millennium bug problem, and 10 percent were certain their computer systems would not be ready for January 1, 2000. ''This predicament is disturbing'' said Prove It 2000 Chief Executive Richard Coppel. ''The results show that even at this late stage, the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises are still not taking the year 2000 issue seriously.'' he added. Prove It 2000 estimates that at least 384,000 UK companies rely on computer systems that are crucial to their business.
''We predict that at least 10 percent of these companies will go into liquidation as a result of system failure. This will result in the loss of 291,072 jobs,'' Coppel added. |
