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20 Jun 2012 00:01
Scotland tops UK league for job creation
Anne MacColl, chief executive, Scottish Development International welcomes the latest Ernst & Young UK Attractiveness Survey and European Investment Monitor which reveal strong inward investment success in Scotland in 2011. Ernst & Young’s latest UK Attractiveness Survey reports almost 6,000 positions, from 51 projects, were created in Scotland during 2011 – a 50 per cent increase of jobs on the previous year making it once again the UK’s leading location for FDI job creation.
Key findings from the survey show that:
- the US was the biggest source of FDI into Scotland overall, accounting for 50% of projects
- Norway was the second highest investor in Scotland, reflecting the strength of the nation’s oil and gas industry
- as well as leading on projects, the US is also Scotland’s leading source of FDI employment. In 2011, US companies’ investments in Scotland created over 3,700 jobs
- the percentage of Scottish FDI employment originating from the US has now risen from just over 20% in 2009 to over 60% in 2011
- a total of 1,800 jobs were created in Scotland from European Countries, including significant investments from Switzerland, Norway and Poland.
Latest data from the Ernst & Young European Investment Monitor reveals that Scotland:
- topped the UK league in terms of job creation from FDI in 2011 for the second year running, with over 2,000 more jobs created than the next-highest region.
- secured 33.3%, up 19% from previous year, of all R&D projects into UK
- received 4.7%, in comparison to 4.3% in previous year, of all R&D projects into Europe
- is the 1st region for R&D investment in the UK - a position we have held for 4 out of last 5 years
- is the 2nd region for the creation of jobs in the UK after the South East
- received a quarter of all European R&D projects to the UK
- acquired nearly 39% of US R&D projects to the UK
Anne MacColl said: "These figures are very encouraging and underline the importance of continuing to focus on attracting high value jobs, based on Scotland's strong R&D capabilities and sector strengths which will become embedded in Scotland's economy in the long term.
"The figures also show that Scotland continues to perform strongly in terms of being an attractive business environment that is conducive to the research and development of major international projects. Recent successes including Gamesa and Toshiba, as well as Avaloq, further highlight Scotland's growing reputation as a global partner of choice."
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Scottish Development International (SDI) works to attract inward investment and knowledge to Scotland to help the economy grow. It also helps Scottish based companies to trade overseas and promotes Scotland as a good place to live, work and do business. It is a partnership between the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and its work is guided by the Scottish Government’s strategy for economic development in Scotland.