A SIGNIFICANT US investment in Northern Ireland’s financial sector is expected to be announced later today.
The announcement is understood to involve potentially hundreds of so-called “high end” jobs which are least likely to migrate to lower-cost economies.
The move follows the visit by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and the US economic envoy Declan Kelly to Belfast last week and a recent trip to New York by Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness during which they lobbied for investment.
Ms Clinton linked future jobs announcements to political stability and urged Stormont politicians to present an image to the outside world of a peaceful and politically stable society which is attractive to investors.
The expected announcement will also mark what economist Prof Richard Barnett has called a “step change” in the North’s jobs market.
Prof Barnett’s independent review of economic policy, published earlier this month, was critical of the existing inward investment strategy. He said too much of the near-£1 billion inward investment budget had been spent on attracting low-paid jobs that were not likely to remain rooted in the local community.
Today’s jobs announcement is closely intertwined with moves towards the completion of devolution and the transfer of policing and justice powers from Whitehall to Stormont.