The talk of a global recession has come home to roost in Bradford as hundreds of job losses were confirmed this week.

The W&J Whitehead job losses join 80 employees at shares dealer TD Waterhouse.

And Saltaire-based digital TV giant Pace Micro Technology has confirmed its factory will shut in September with the loss of another 470 jobs.

Such heavy blows spread across three apparently diverse sectors are bound to beg some difficult questions about what can be done.

Dr Damian Ward, a lecturer in economics at the University of Bradford, offered some disturbing answers.

He said: "Nationally there's clearly a concern that there's going to be a recession and by cutting interest rates again the Bank of England's trying to head that off.

"But Bradford is in some ways more open to a recession than other cities because of the predominantly low skills set we have.

"That means firms are happy to come here in the good times to get staff for manufacturing assembly line work or call centre jobs, but those jobs are often the first to go in the bad times.

"Although they appear very different, these three businesses all require fairly limited skills sets and so have to compete globally on cost - and that means they can be undercut."

But while manufacturers have suffered the brunt of the world-wide slowdown up to now, service industries, like remote broker TD Waterhouse, are also starting to be hit.

That's a trend John Pennington, president of Bradford Chamber of Commerce, hopes yesterday's 0.25 per cent interest rate cut by the Bank of England will turn around.

He said: "The monetary policy committee has shown a willingness to respond to the nervousness recently shown in business, which we applaud.

"Recent signs in our quarterly economic survey showed that service industries could be about to suffer the way manufacturing has."

Meanwhile the local housing market, usually a good indicator of an area's economic well being, has remained buoyant.

The Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) housing market survey for the three months to June, showed demand actually outstripping supply in West Yorkshire.

But William Dale, of Ilkley estate agents Dale Eddison, sounded a note of caution.

He said: "Continued strong market conditions have resulted in excellent sales levels.

"But here are signs that the market is beginning to slow a little - buyers are querying whether the top has been reached."

So what of the future? Bradford Chamber of Commerce says the fact that so many of the district's firms are adapting successfully to the possibilities of the Internet and new technology is a cause for hope.

Dr Ward, meanwhile, thinks a more radical solution is needed.

"Bradford needs to pull itself out of this position where it's seen as a very good source of cheap labour - and that means educating and training people in professional level skills.

"It also means manufacturers moving into niche markets so they can compete on product, rather than on costs."