Almost 1,800 jobs have been created as a result of inward investment in Birmingham in the last eight months – with nearly 40 per cent in financial services – according to new data.
Data from Business Birmingham, the city’s inward investment programme, shows a total of 675 new financial services jobs have been created in the city since April.
In the same period, 370 jobs have been created in transport technologies, the second most prominent sector in terms of job creation, and 300 in the public sector. Wouter Schuitemaker, investment director at Business Birmingham, said the jobs had been created as a result of a “proactive focus” by the new programme.
He said: “To generate investment and jobs, we have focused on raising the profile of Birmingham, and its sectoral strengths, on a global scale.
“We have exceeded our overall job creation target by 42 per cent so far, generating 1,777 jobs against an original target of 1,250 until April 2012.”
The Business Birmingham data shows 230 new manufacturing jobs, 120 in business process outsourcing and 50 in emerging technologies, have been created as a result of inward investment.
Mr Schuitemaker said the above-target performance has in a large part been driven by strong performances in financial services and in automotive sectors, and he sees this continuing next year.
He said the figures demonstrate that Business Birmingham’s sectoral and market-focused inward investment strategy is paying dividends.
The initiative has been targeting overseas organisations with an appetite for the skills and innovations that the Birmingham area can demonstrate, and identifying countries based upon both existing trade links and size of opportunity – the USA and India in particular.
He added: “By concentrating on sectors such as advanced manufacturing and engineering, financial services and low carbon technologies, we have been able to leverage the value and service chains built around resident global players such as ThyssenKrupp, Jaguar Land Rover and most recently, Skanska.
“As we move into 2012, we will continue to build on these strengths but also focus more strongly on life sciences and digital media. Due to our recent success Business Birmingham is also extending our target audience to 10 markets from four, including China, Japan, Australia and Switzerland, based on higher than expected levels of interest from these markets.”
Some 120 inward investment prospects are in the pipeline for Business Birmingham – of which 65 per cent are in financial and business services, digital media, manufacturing and transport technologies.
North America has the most overseas projects, at 16 per cent, followed by India, at six per cent, and Germany, at five per cent.
