Job fears at an IT company and a textile firm in the North are likely to produce almost 100 redundancies before Christmas, workers have been told.

American-owned IT firm Insilco Technologies - which manufactures cables for the telecommunications industry - is to significantly reduce its operation in the North. The firm, which has been laying off people throughout the year, will shed a further 44 jobs. Just 18 months ago, it employed nearly 200 people.

Insilco Technologies, which has blamed the continuing downturn in the international telecoms sector for the job cuts, said it now planned to retain only 10 staff in the North.

Meanwhile, Saintfield Yarns is also in discussions about the prospect of cutting up to 50 positions. Management at the company has yet to comment on the potential redundancies at the Co Down company, but workers fear that at this stage the jobs are unlikely to be saved.

The job fears come as latest UK statistics show that unemployment in the North rose marginally, by 0.1 per cent, over the last quarter.

The rate of unemployment now stands at 6 per cent, which means that 46,000 people are out of work in Northern Ireland. This compares with an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent for the UK as a whole. Seasonally adjusted figures for November show that the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits fell in the North by 200 to 38,300.

Sir Reg Empey, the North's Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, has warned that unemployment is likely to rise in the North in light of several redundancy notices which his department has received from companies.