A predicted exodus of 1.2 million European jobs to offshore locations by 2015 will have a minimal impact on employment in the Republic, according to research published yesterday.

The report by independent technology research company, Forrester, predicts that "less than one tenth of one per cent" of jobs in the Republic will move offshore.

The impact in the UK will be far more dramatic, with 56,000 UK jobs expected to be offshored this year and a total of 760,000 by 2015.

As a result the UK will be the "first European country to experience the economic boost from offshore efficiencies," according to Forrester.

"Laggards" such as Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands "risk losing out in terms of profitability, particularly in the finance, auto manufacturing and aerospace industries," it finds.

The Republic is one of a smaller group of countries which includes Spain, Portugal and Greece which are termed as "near shore" locations which will be relatively unaffected even though a certain amount of jobs will be off-shored from the economy.

The reason for this is that the Republic will still be able to compete as a location for offshoring in certain niche areas.

Many offshore locations, such as India and China, do not have the sort of expertise that has been developed in the Republic in areas including financial services, according to the report.

In addition, many companies seeking to offshore will have concerns about the political stability of some of the low cost destinations and also worries about issues such as intellectual property.