THE threat of a further 2,000 job losses at electrical firm Electrolux is not as bad as many feared, the Swedish firm said yesterday.

The company's chief executive, Michael Treschow, announced the cuts last week, leaving staff at its Spennymoor plant in County Durham concerned that they could be the victims of the firm's cutbacks once again.

But a spokeswoman at the firm's Stockholm headquarters yesterday said the 2,000 jobs were not all new losses.

They included many jobs which had already gone and more where workers already knew they were going, she said.

Since Mr Treschow took over in 1997, about 14,500 jobs have been axed leaving the world-wide workforce of about 86,500.

In 1999, the company's refrigeration plant at Spennymoor was closed with 650 job losses.

The latest announcement came as the company looked to what it believes will be a poor year in the American market.

The spokeswoman said there was no geographical breakdown of where the losses would be, other than between 250 and 300 in Sweden.