The number of international companies setting up their offices in the Netherlands grew by 18 per cent over 2013, setting a new record of 370 new companies a year.

These companies’ investments created around 9.200 new jobs, an increase of 52 per cent from the around 6.000 jobs created in 2012. Many of these jobs were in the ICT industry. This is higher than previous analyses on foreign investment.

This is according to a consultancy arm of international giant IBM, which maps global investments.

Netherlands a good location

Roel Spee from IBM Global Business Services said that the Netherlands continues to be a very strong location for foreign companies.

"The Netherlands has a number of strengths, including its central geographic location, excellent infrastructure and strong workforce. The personnel are very competitive within a Western European context."

US a major investor

The study shows that companies from the United States provided 35 per cent of the new jobs, including 320 positions at the IBM service centre in Groningen, while UK companies provided 16 per cent.

Growing economies China and India are expanding their presence in the Netherlands, being responsible for 10 and eight per cent of the new positions respectively, including a new office in Voorburg for Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and another in Eindhoven for Indian IT company Wipro.

Most companies in Amsterdam

The area around Amsterdam had the most new addition, with 141 companies setting up their new branches there, followed by Rotterdam and The Hague with 44 projects each.

In general, the western side of the Netherlands is the best place to find a job with an international company, with 68 per cent of projects and 56 per cent of jobs.

The southern part of the Netherlands had the second-largest numbers, with just under one-third of new jobs and one-fifth of projects. The north and east of the Netherlands attracted the least investment.

Netherlands favourable for investment

According to Spee, the level of foreign investment in the Netherlands was only slightly affected by the crisis.

"It is performing stronger now than before the crisis," he said. "This is certainly not that same in other Western European nations."

This improvement is mirrored in domestic data: new figures from CBS show that domestic private sector investment in the Netherlands has been improving since late last year.
 

Sources: IBM Consulting, CBS, Nu.nl, Computable