More than 10,000 jobs were created in the North East in 2021 as the region’s economy tried to battle through the pandemic.
Call centres, manufacturers and outsourcing companies proved to be major employers over the 12 months, helping the North East tot up at least 11,829 jobs that companies announced on our pages.
And despite the challenges of Covid-19 restrictions, national lockdowns, labour shortages and supply chain constraints, companies operating in every sector announced new appointments or recruitment drives during 2021.
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Our jobs figure is likely to be an underestimate and does not include knock-ons in the supply chain, while in other cases firms announced new jobs but didn’t reveal how many were to be created.
Those schemes include Nissan and Envision AESC’s mission to create jobs due to come at Hiatchi Rail in Newton Aycliffe, Britishvolt’s plans for a gigafactory in Blyth, and the a new call centre in Sunderland after being picked to provide the rolling stock for the HS2 scheme.
The year started slowly, but jobs were being created even in lockdown for e-commerce and digital services companies, as well as PPE manufacturers such as PFF.
Uncertainty for the future saw recruitment tail off during the Spring months, but as the economy began to reopen in April, activity ramped up and the summer months served up an employment boon for the North East.
In June, Durham based workwear manufacturers Workwear Express announced 100 new jobs, followed by Teesside gaming studio Double Eleven – winner of the North East Company of the Year – which also created 100 jobs.
July saw no less than 2,122 jobs announced, led by two announcements at Nissan – 400 on its production line and a further 909 as part of its gigafactory plan. Electric battery maker Envision AESC also announced 750 new jobs at the plant, which has now gained planning permission.
August proved to be the most buoyant month of the year for recruiters with 2,485 jobs created by the likes of Quotient Sciences, Norton Rose Fulbright, Northern Gas & Power, Vertu and Engenera.
Just Eat announced it was launching a new call centre in Sunderland, which would be staffed by 1,500 new employees, and there was also welcome news that a new tech firm had picked Newcastle to become home to a new base, leading to 100 new jobs.
September brought news of plans to open a £130m cable factory that would create more than 170 jobs in the North East. JDR Cables will build the cable factory at Cambois, Blyth, which will also support jobs at its existing facility in Hartlepool – and the company’s plans have recently been presented to the community.
In October a further 1,500 roles were added to the total. Call centres and outsourcing led the way in job creation, with Newcastle firm Echo-U announcing plans to create 400 new jobs and Sunderland’s EC Outsourcing looking to recruit 350 when it expands into a new base on the back of a number of new contracts.
Elsewhere the technology sector saw 300 new jobs created by Gateshead’s Bloom Procurement, while global digital consultancy Monstarlab is creating 100 new tech jobs after picking Newcastle for its second UK base and European alarm firm Verisure announced the latest 100 jobs for its operations in North Tyneside.
The final two months of the year have seen expansion at the likes of Protector Group, Sock Monkey and Saggezza. Notably, transport firm Lumo set up its headquarters in Newcastle, bringing 100 jobs, and Accenture also announced plans to create 1,500 new roles across its Northern offices.
Looking to the future, Heather Mills announced plans to create more than 300 North East jobs on the back of a multimillion-pound partnership with a German food giant. Pfeifer & Langen Industrie und Handels KG has taken a 25.1% minority stake in her plant-based food business VBites, and the money will be used to reopen and ramp production of VBites products at the firm’s Peterlee site.
That same week, Smulders announced it was looking to create 250 jobs at its Wallsend yard on the back of increasing activity in offshore wind. The North Tyneside firm forms part of a consortium selected by Moray West, a wind farm marking the second phase of a landmark renewables project in the outer Moray Firth.
The project will go up against other firms to bid for a slice of a cash pot worth £265m a year of Government support for renewable power generation – and the green energy auction round has opened within the last two weeks, giving hopes for even more huge projects off the North East coast.
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