(source: amsterdam inbusiness)
Thousands of new jobs in Amsterdam
Further expansion of established international businesses also led to the creation of more than 4,100 extra jobs in 2017. Last year, the European Medicines Agency (EMA)announced that it will be moving its headquarters to Amsterdam. Currently based in London, the EMA must relocate due to Brexit.
“Amsterdam enjoys a strong competitive position as a location for international businesses and startups thanks to its strategic placement within Europe, its excellent logistics networks, its function as a data hub and its ability to attract talent,” said alderperson Udo Kock (economic affairs). “Our city’s strong standing has generated a huge number of jobs in Amsterdam and the surrounding region: more than 6,500 last year alone. And that’s not even including the jobs that will be created by the European Medicines Agency’s move. It’s important that Amsterdam doesn’t take the establishment of international companies for granted, but that we continue to invest in infrastructure and in building office spaces, international schools and housing throughout the city and the region.”
Strong international position
Amsterdam’s strong competitive position is also clear from the international rankings for 2017. According to IBM’s Global Location Trends report, our region now ranks second worldwide when it comes to attracting foreign investment. Amsterdam comes in third among EU cities on the Global Power City Index for attracting international talent and investment, and it was named Europe’s safest city on the Economist’s Safe Cities Index. These impressive results can be attributed not only to our strong position, but also to improvements to the Amsterdam Area ’s business climate and to its marketing and acquisition efforts.
American businesses still the largest investors
North America was the biggest source of investment in 2017, representing 36% of new companies and 53% of new jobs. One such company is BAMtech Media, which provides streaming video coverage of a variety of sports and now employs 60 people at its offices in Amsterdam Noord. The EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) was the next-largest source of investment in 2017, generating 36% of new companies and 23% of new jobs. Investments from Asia remained stable, representing 25% of new companies and 23% of jobs. North America also takes the lead when it comes to business expansion, accounting for 57% of all jobs created by expansion. While many of these businesses were companies such as Netflix and FashionTrade, which tend to scale up quickly, multinationals such as Infosys and Asics also expanded in 2017.
Most of the new international companies are active in ICT, financial services and the creative industry; although, the health and science and agrifood sectors also performed well in 2017. In terms of business activities, (European) headquarters (38) and marketing and sales offices (84) continue to predominate.
Brexit and the European Medicines Agency
In 2017, as a result of the UK’s plans to withdraw from the European Union, the EU decided to move the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to Amsterdam in 2019. It will make the Netherlands more attractive to companies active in the life sciences and other related fields, as they often prefer to be located near such a vital European agency. Amsterdam is actively engaged in helping the EMA and its employees to make a smooth transition to the Amsterdam Area. Together with our partners at Invest in Holland, Amsterdam will ensure that businesses and talent that follow the EMA to the Netherlands will quickly find their footing in the Amsterdam Area or elsewhere in the country.
Regional differences
International talent is crucial to businesses’ success, and these types of employees generally prefer to live in cities. Compared to previous years, the number of companies that settled in the city of Amsterdam itself has increased relative to other areas within the region. amsterdam inbusiness is doing its best to change this through its marketing and communications efforts. Amstelveen, Haarlemmermeer, Almere and other municipalities in the region are also excellent places for international businesses to settle.
In many of these areas, the travel time to Amsterdam’s city centre is less than half an hour. Amsterdam strives to spread international talent throughout the region as evenly as possible. The opening and expansion of international schools in Almere, Amstelveen, Hilversum, Haarlem and Haarlemmermeer in 2017 will certainly contribute to this goal. In 2017, a total of 850 new places were created at international schools throughout the region, most of which were in the Amsterdam Area.