Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt warned call centre workers to improve their skills or risk losing jobs to India and the Philippines.
Ms Hewitt insisted call centres had a bright future in this country and would employ a million people in three years' time.
But, in a long-awaited report on "offshoring", she said British staff lacked vital "soft skills" such as communication and customer service.
She also raised the alarm over "the frustration of being put on hold for ages" and claimed the call centre industry suffered from a poor image.
Earlier this year, The Argus told how unions feared more than 200,000 financial services jobs could be moved overseas by 2008, with a potentially devastating impact on Brighton and Hove's economy.
Aviva, which trades as Norwich Union, revealed last December it would relocate 2,350 clerical and call centre jobs to India, with the prospect of at least 500 job losses in Britain.
About 40 jobs have been lost at its office in Worthing, which employs more than 1,500 people.
American Express, which has a main office in Eastern Road, Brighton, opened a call-handling centre in India in August 2002, fuelling staff fears of job cuts among 3,000 workers.
Thursday May 06, 2004
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