Boost for inward investment

A total of 957 new jobs were announced over the course of September. PwC announced the creation of 807 new jobs representing an investment of over £40 million.

A new financial advisory service called My Financepartner will create 303 jobs, and another project (PwC Augment) will create 504 jobs, aimed mainly at graduates, over the next five years. Invest NI has offered £4.4 million of assistance including training support. Martin McGuinness remarked that the new jobs show PwC’s “desire to use our current and future graduates as the foundation for their business activities worldwide.”

The international law firm Allen & Overy, headquartered in London, is to create 100 new jobs. These will be created over the next five years at the firm’s Belfast office which was established in 2011 and currently employs 380 staff. The company will also invest in training, expanding the legal skills base in Northern Ireland. Invest NI has offered £860,000 to support the new jobs and associated training. Version 1, a London-based IT service company, is expanding its Belfast operation and creating 50 new jobs with an average salary of £57,500.

This will bring the total number of Belfast-based staff to 76 by the end of 2017. Invest NI has offered £350,000 to support the 50 new jobs. Peter Robinson commented that these are “undoubtedly the type of high level jobs that will help us rebuild and rebalance our economy.”