The number of people employed in clothing and textiles in the United Kingdom has more than halved in the last 20 years. And figures gathered by the Office for National Statistics indicate that the rate of job losses is increasing with the move to offshore production. Between 1980 and 1999 a total of 360,000 jobs disappeared from the industry in the UK, reducing the workforce to 336,000 - an average of just under 19,000 jobs a year lost during the period. Figures for the period from 1993 to 1999 show the rate of job losses slowing. A total of 79,700 jobs were lost in that time - an average of just over 13,000 a year.