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Swedish businesses creating growth across the UK
A new study, performed by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the UK, in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in London and Business Sweden, examines the contribution Swedish businesses make to the regional growth of the UK. What does the regional reach look like? Where are job opportunities created, and what investments are Swedish businesses making across the UK?
Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology Silicon Fen, which contains industries such as software and bioscience and many start-up companies born out of the University of Cambridge.
01.
Almost 80,000 jobs across the UK
In this study, the Swedish Chamber surveyed 87 Swedish businesses in the UK on their contribution to the UK economy.
According to the survey, the participating companies employ 78,616 people in the UK. Based on the results, and our knowledge of Swedish businesses operating in the UK, we assess that well over 150,000 direct or indirect job opportunities are created by the 1,000+ Swedish businesses operating in the UK. Not a bad contribution for a country of 10 million.
81% of respondents plan to increase employment in a 5-year perspective. Within the next 5 years, the businesses are creating 8,927 new jobs - an addition of 11.5% compared to current employment base.
Both existing and future jobs are widely spread across the country, contributing to the nationwide growth of the UK, and job creation from north to south.
The 87 Swedish businesses that participated in the survey, employ 78,616 people across the UK.
The businesses expect to create a total of 8,927 new jobs within the next 5 years.
Within the next 5 years the businesses will grow their employment base by 11.5%.
84% of jobs created by the Swedish businesses that participated in the survey are based outside of the Greater London region.
02.
Investing in local communities
The study investigates businesses’ contribution to the regional growth of the UK, and more than half of them (51%) contribute to the local workforce through education and skills training. Additionally, 47% of businesses are investing in improving local health and 30% in creating stronger and safer communities.
61% are boosting regional productivity through their operations. In fact, 84% of the jobs generated by the businesses are based outside of Greater London, proving that Swedish investment and interests are far from limited to the capital. The Swedish footprint in the UK is nationwide.
Largest proportion of jobs created by Swedish businesses are in London, North West England and South East England.
03.
Distribution of jobs
Looking at the distribution of jobs between regions, we find that a majority (84%) are based outside of London and the capital region. The business footprint covers all parts of the UK, with a more or less even spread of jobs between London (16%), North West England (15%) and South East England (12%). Furthermore, jobs are distributed across East of England (10%), West Midlands England (10%), Scotland (7%), South West England (7%), Yorkshire and The Humber (6%), East Midlands England (5%), North East England (4%), Wales (4%) and Northern Ireland (4%).
The total of 78,616* employees are distributed across the regions as per below:
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London: 11,502
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North West England: 10,875
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South East England: 8,525
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East of England: 7,422
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West Midlands England: 6,891
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Scotland: 5,131
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South West England: 5,042
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Yorkshire and The Humber: 4,390
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East Midlands England: 3,351
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North East England: 2,768
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Wales: 2,654
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Northern Ireland: 2,639
A total of 67,114 jobs are based outside of the Greater London region, corresponding to 84% of all jobs created by the businesses in the study.
* Out of the 78,616 jobs, the regions for 7,426 jobs have not been verified.
Mapping out the regional impact of Swedish businesses
Navigate the map to see the Swedish business footprint across the UK.
Distribution of new jobs across UK regions.
04.
9,000 new jobs created by Swedish business in the UK
81% of the businesses participating in the study plan to expand their teams and employ within the next 5 years, creating a total of 8,927 new jobs. Roughly half of the new job opportunities (47%) will be created outside of London and the South East.
Jobs will be created across a range of sectors. The largest job growth will be created within Business Services (22%), Industrials & Manufacturing (20%), Retail & Consumer Goods (16%), and Infrastructure & Construction (14%).
New jobs will be created across sectors.
92% of the businesses in the survey offer their UK employees skills development and training.
05.
Swedish businesses invest in skills development and training
As most leading businesses and top universities are centralised to specific parts of the country, the trend has been for the highly-skilled and highly-educated to gravitate towards those cities and regions. Meanwhile, people with lower education are not moving to the same extent, resulting in a disproportional division of skills between the regions. Hence, an important step to even out the regional inequalities is to bridge the competence gap between them.
Swedish businesses are playing an important role here, with 92% investing in the competence of their employees, through offering skills development and training. Furthermore, 51% of the businesses offer apprenticeship training.
51% of the businesses offer apprenticeship training.
06.
Strategic investments made in 2021
65% of the Swedish businesses in the study have made strategic investments in the UK in 2021. Of those businesses, 71% have invested in hiring new employees. Other substantial strategic investments were put towards offices, geographic expansion and R&D.
65% of the businesses have made strategic investments in the UK in 2021.
71% of those, have invested in the hiring of new employees.
Investments made in 2021, were put towards the companies' operations across all UK regions, with the largest share of investments made outside of London (71%).
07.
Future strategic investments will go towards new jobs
79% of the businesses say that they will be making strategic investments in the UK in the next 5 years.
74% of those say that future investments will go towards new jobs. While the largest share of investments will be made in London (24%), East Midlands England (10%), and North West England (10%) - both Northern Ireland and Yorkshire and The Humber will see an increase in future investments compared to 2021.
