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New Jobs Follow Investment Conference
A few successes at the US:NI investment conference yesterday, despite the worrying economic outlook in the United States.
US company CyberSource have announced they will be creating 20 new jobs (rising to 60 in three years) in a new research centre to be based in Northern Ireland. Belfast-based financial services company Wombat, recently purchased by the New York Stock Exchange, will also be creating 77 new jobs. Bombardier Aerospace are investing £70m to underpin 1000 jobs at Belfast engineering firm Shorts, mostly to work on parts of the new CRJ1000 lower-emissions short-haul aircraft (although £10m of that is coming from from Invest NI).
The numbers may be small but I'd hazard a guess that, long-term, 100-150 well paid graduate jobs will prove much more significant than employing 800 battery hens in the north-west (although I suppose anything is better than the Derry Disability Living Allowance).
So, are Invest NI setting their sights too low by opening an office in Mumbai to attract more Indian firms to create call centre jobs here? Or are they just aiming for what's achievable?
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5 comments
Comment from: kensei [Visitor]
So, are Invest NI setting their sights too low by opening an office in Mumbai to attract more Indian firms to create call centre jobs here? Or are they just aiming for what's achievable?
The latent racism here annoys the shit out of me.
The latent racism here annoys the shit out of me.
12 May 2008 @ 09:55
Kensei that's low and I'm not going to dignify that bullshit with any further response.
12 May 2008 @ 10:20
Comment from: kensei [Visitor]
Kensei that's low and I'm not going to dignify that bullshit with any further response.
No, it's 100% true. India is just call centre jobs? Fast going economy, a few big companies and going to be a powerhouse as time goes on. In fact, if they are in India it's one of the few things I could see Invest NI is 100% right on. Hopefully they are in China too and probably Russia.
I do not like the attitude that your comments imply. Sorry.
No, it's 100% true. India is just call centre jobs? Fast going economy, a few big companies and going to be a powerhouse as time goes on. In fact, if they are in India it's one of the few things I could see Invest NI is 100% right on. Hopefully they are in China too and probably Russia.
I do not like the attitude that your comments imply. Sorry.
13 May 2008 @ 10:49
"Fast going economy, a few big companies and going to be a powerhouse as time goes on. In fact, if they are in India it's one of the few things I could see Invest NI is 100% right on. Hopefully they are in China too and probably Russia."
Well done. If only you'd made that comment in the first place instead of resorting to knee-jerk accusations of racism perhaps we could have skipped the unpleasantness and had a proper discussion from the word go.
The problem with implication is that it's all based on interpretation, and your is some way off. Aside from anything, if I was guilty of what you suggest it would be xenophobia, not racism (although strictly I suppose that suggests fear rather than simple prejudice).
Anyway... my point was not to do with the Indian people, and not a slight on the Indian nation. At a stretch, it could be a comment on the Indian economy, but more it was to do with the types of investment Indian companies have thus far made to Northern Ireland and an indictment of the fact that Invest NI has been such a failure that call centre jobs are celebrated as victories despite the fact that they're low paid and the workers are treated like battery hens.
I know only a handful of Indian companies operating in Northern Ireland. They include (multinational?) banks (ICICI) and telecommunications/technology companies (HCL, Tech Mahindra, FirstSource). For some reason though, Polaris aside, they only deem fit to locate "Business Process Outsourcing" (i.e. call centre jobs) in Northern Ireland, presumably because we're cheap (relative to the rest of "the west" anyway).
Is all we've got going for us as an economy that we can supply large number of cheap workers to man phones?
I'll try asking my question again, more thoroughly.
Is it worth Invest NI having an office in India? What quantity and type of jobs is it likely to attract? If it is only low-paid, low-skilled, call centre-type jobs (as it seems to have been so far) is that a success? After all it's better than nothing. Does this type of investment provide a good RoI for the amount of subsidies and incentives Invest NI provides? Does Northern Ireland really have the potential and the skilled workforce it needs to attract higher-skilled jobs?
Well done. If only you'd made that comment in the first place instead of resorting to knee-jerk accusations of racism perhaps we could have skipped the unpleasantness and had a proper discussion from the word go.
The problem with implication is that it's all based on interpretation, and your is some way off. Aside from anything, if I was guilty of what you suggest it would be xenophobia, not racism (although strictly I suppose that suggests fear rather than simple prejudice).
Anyway... my point was not to do with the Indian people, and not a slight on the Indian nation. At a stretch, it could be a comment on the Indian economy, but more it was to do with the types of investment Indian companies have thus far made to Northern Ireland and an indictment of the fact that Invest NI has been such a failure that call centre jobs are celebrated as victories despite the fact that they're low paid and the workers are treated like battery hens.
I know only a handful of Indian companies operating in Northern Ireland. They include (multinational?) banks (ICICI) and telecommunications/technology companies (HCL, Tech Mahindra, FirstSource). For some reason though, Polaris aside, they only deem fit to locate "Business Process Outsourcing" (i.e. call centre jobs) in Northern Ireland, presumably because we're cheap (relative to the rest of "the west" anyway).
Is all we've got going for us as an economy that we can supply large number of cheap workers to man phones?
I'll try asking my question again, more thoroughly.
Is it worth Invest NI having an office in India? What quantity and type of jobs is it likely to attract? If it is only low-paid, low-skilled, call centre-type jobs (as it seems to have been so far) is that a success? After all it's better than nothing. Does this type of investment provide a good RoI for the amount of subsidies and incentives Invest NI provides? Does Northern Ireland really have the potential and the skilled workforce it needs to attract higher-skilled jobs?
13 May 2008 @ 11:54
Comment from: kensei [Visitor]
No, what you came off with is India=call centres. Modern equivalent of "like it was put in by an Indian". Dress it up how you like.
When I was leaving university Tata Consultancy was recruiting here. Doubt it took too many but that'd be those nice IT graduate jobs you like.
Even if it is only call centre jobs, two points. First our "best education system in the world" produces large numbers of undereducated people. There has to be opportunities for those people too. Some people like working in call centres, and there are jobs that pay worse. I should add that we have limited capacity for taking in a lot of highly skilled jobs, due to a lack of qualified candidates: we have a deficit of university places here, which the government justifies by having excess in Britain. The problem is particularly acute outside Belfast.
Second, while we take the call centre jobs, we build up links and reputation with Indian firms.
India is growing. Having links and successful enterprises early on will be a big advantage when it becomes a more established economy. But you are a Unionist, so I don't really expect you to have a clue about the long game.
When I was leaving university Tata Consultancy was recruiting here. Doubt it took too many but that'd be those nice IT graduate jobs you like.
Even if it is only call centre jobs, two points. First our "best education system in the world" produces large numbers of undereducated people. There has to be opportunities for those people too. Some people like working in call centres, and there are jobs that pay worse. I should add that we have limited capacity for taking in a lot of highly skilled jobs, due to a lack of qualified candidates: we have a deficit of university places here, which the government justifies by having excess in Britain. The problem is particularly acute outside Belfast.
Second, while we take the call centre jobs, we build up links and reputation with Indian firms.
India is growing. Having links and successful enterprises early on will be a big advantage when it becomes a more established economy. But you are a Unionist, so I don't really expect you to have a clue about the long game.
13 May 2008 @ 22:34
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