The North West economy has been steadily recovering from the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 throughout the last 12 months.
The rise in business confidence, despite a few stumbles along the way, has helped companies from across the region announce the creation of thousands of jobs during 2021 and over the next few years.
While the uncertainty of the pandemic is still not over, especially with the new Omicron variant, businesses have still committed to creating new jobs in Manchester, Liverpool, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria.
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Here, BusinessLive rounds up a selection of those household names who have helped bring thousands of roles to the region during 2021.
PwC PwC offices at No1 Spinningfields, Quay Street, Manchester (Image: Manchester Evening News)Professional services giant PwC announced in October that it is to create up to 1,000 jobs over three years at its newly-launched technology hub in Manchester.
The technology-focused roles will be in addition to existing recruitment of 3,000 people per year.
The company added that at least 100 of the new jobs are being recruited immediately for the tech hub which will be located at the firm’s Manchester office at 1 Spinningfields where 1,400 people are currently based.
The hub will focus on developing technology products and assets for use across PwC’s business and to support client work.
You can read the full story here.
UberRide hailing app Uber revealed in September that it wants to recruit 500 more drivers in Merseyside to meet huge post-lockdown demand.
The global giant said it was part of a national recruitment drive that will see it sign up a further 20,000 drivers as demand for rides continues to increase.
All Uber drivers are now entitled to at least the National Living Wage – after changes in the law were introduced – although many do earn more.
You can read the full story here.
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Mowgli Street Food (Image: Leicester Mercury / Chris Gordon)Indian restaurant chain Mowgli Street Food confirmed in October that it is on track to increase its staff numbers to 700 by the middle of 2022.
The Liverpool-headquartered company was founded by West Lancashire-born barrister-turned-entrepreneur Nisha Katona.
The business is planning to expand into Preston, Bristol, Brighton, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Mowgli Street Food has been backed by private equity firm Foresight Group since it injected £3.5m in 2017. At the time, Mowgli was operating from two sites in Liverpool and Manchester.
Mowgli is aiming to launch four to five new restaurants per year and has ambitions to open in Newcastle, Chelmsford and Cambridge.
You can read the full story here.
Co-op (Image: PA)More than 300 LGV driver apprenticeships are being created by the Co-op in response to the crisis earlier this year.
The programme will run for 12-15 months across the UK, with drivers becoming fully operational after three months.
Starting salaries will range between £23,753 and £25,584, depending on location.
Co-op Food chief executive Jo Whitfield said at the time: “The transport sector needs long-term sustainable change. Through our apprenticeship programme we’ll be able to help driver recruitment by attracting new talent and make the sector more appealing to younger people.”
You can read the full story here.
TalkTalk TalkTalk’s Salford headquartersTelecoms giant TalkTalk announced the creation of almost 180 new jobs – after celebrating the “first wave” of young people completing their six-month Kickstart placements.
The Salford-based firm announced in September that it had 123 vacancies across the business, as well as an additional 56 new Kickstart roles.
It news came after the connectivity provider hosted a graduation event for its first wave of Kickstart placements at its Soapworks HQ.
Almost 50 young people were welcomed into the business on Kickstart placements – the Government scheme created last year aiming to deliver opportunities for young people. 30 of those Kickstarters have found permanent roles as a result of their placement.You can read the full story here.
Castore Phil and Tom Beahon from Castore (Image: Colin Lane)
British premium sports fashion brand Castore announced in April it was to relocate its headquarters from Liverpool to One Central Street in Manchester city centre and create 300 jobs over the next two years.
The business signed a 13-year lease with landlord Kinrise to occupy all available workspace – c.22,100 sq ft – within the building across five floors.
Founded in 2015 by brothers Thomas and Philip Beahon, Castore currently sells products in more than 50 countries worldwide and includes collaborations with sports stars such as Andy Murray.
Castore has now relocated all staff from current headquarters in Liverpool to Manchester.
You can read the full story here.
Matillion Matillion’s office in AltrinchamGreater Manchester’s latest unicorn Matillion created almost 180 jobs in 2021 as it gears up for further global expansion.
The cloud data company now has a headcount of 390 compared to the total of 213 it employed at the end of 2020.
Speaking exclusively to BusinessLive in October, CEO and founder Matthew Scullion added the Altrincham firm is looking to “double down” on its operations in the US and “triple down” in Europe over the coming years.”
The company raised $150m in a funding round led by a US investment giant with stakes in the likes of Gymshark, BuzzFeed and Squarespace which values the business at $1.5bn.
You can read the full story here.
Boohoo Boohoo (Image: PA)Boohoo announced plans in August to create 5,000 jobs as part of a £500m investment plan in the UK to mark its 15th anniversary.
The Manchester-based online fashion retailer revealed the news in its 2021 Economic Impact Report, which outlined the firm’s almost £2bn in GVA to the UK economy since 2009.
The jobs will be created over the next five years, and Boohoo said the investment will help the firm continue its “Incredible growth”.
You can read the full story here.
musicMagpie MusicMagpie is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market (Image: MusicMagpie)Greater Manchester-based musicMagpie is adding hundreds of jobs over the next three years after it completed its float on AIM in 2021.
The online retailer, which resells the likes of second-hand phones, currently employs more than 1,000 people in the UK and US.
Founded in 2007, the group has operations in Stockport and in the US in Atlanta, Georgia.
You can read the full story here.
RWinvest RWinvest director Michael GledhillLiverpool property sales agent RWinvest has announced plans to increase its workforce by 30% in 2022.
The company experienced significant increases in its stock of new developments in 2021 and in excess of 1,650 new properties are due to be sold by the firm in the next 12 months.
During the past 12 months RWinvest has assisted in more than £150m in property transactions.
The company predominantly secures investment for North West developments and recently opened an office in Salford Quays.
It is also actively looking to recruit for positions in London.
BT BT CEO Consumer Marc Allera visits the site along with Nick Lane MD of customer services consumerBT announced the completion and opening of a new North West office following a multi-million pound investment – and the creation of 125 jobs.
The new-look contact centre in Warrington is one of the telecoms giant’s first new-look offices to open under its ‘better workplace’ programme – the largest of its type ever undertaken in the UK.
BT said staff have been working from home during the pandemic, but were expected to return to the office over the coming weeks and months.
You can read the full story here.
Competition and Markets Authority (Image: Getty Images)More than 200 employees of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) are set to be located in Manchester by 2025 after the watchdog announced a new base in the city.
Manchester will be the home of the new Digital Markets Unit (DMU), which has been established to oversee a new regulatory regime for the most powerful digital firms.
The CMA said the DMU’s remit is to “promote greater competition and innovation and protect consumers and businesses from unfair practices”.
You can read the full story here.
Cloud Imperium Games Cloud Imperium Games is headquartered in LA (Image: Cloud Imperium Games)An international independent videogame developer announced plans to open a new Manchester base in 2022 and create more than 1,000 jobs in the next five years.
Cloud Imperium Games will open a new development studio in Enterprise City in May 2022, creating more than 700 jobs in the area by 2023.
Founded in 2012 by Chris Roberts, the company’s titles include Star Citizen whose voice cast includes Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, Mark Strong and Gillian Anderson.
The company currently employs more than 700 people worldwide, with 400 employees based at its current UK studio headquartered in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
The Wilmslow team will relocate to the new headquarters at Enterprise City.
You can read the full story here.
Amazon (Image: Getty Images North America)Amazon confirmed plans to create another 1,250 jobs in London, Manchester, Cambridge and Edinburgh as part of a major expansion.
The business will hire new staff for its offices in London and Manchester, as well as its ‘tech hubs’ in Cambridge and Edinburgh, and it will also be looking for staff across its UK fulfilment centres.
The move comes after US online retail giant already created 10,000 jobs so far this year. Amazon has a UK workforce totalling more than 55,000.
You can read the full story here.
DAM Health The Spine in Liverpool is the headquarters of DAM HealthLiverpool-headquartered Covid-19 testing firm DAM Health revealed plans to create more than 350 jobs in 2022.
The company already employs close to 1,000 people across all of its divisions in the UK and internationally across technical, customer service and office-based staff.
A significant part of the recruitment drive is for technical staff with almost 300 new staff required for its laboratories to meet the ongoing demand for antigen and PCR testing.
By the end of 2021 DAM Health will have a total of 12 labs operational in Manchester, Kent, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Hull, Cornhill, two in Fulham, Glasgow, Antrim, Harlow and the original Rose Lane site in Liverpool.
You can read the full story here.
Octopus Energy Group Octopus Energy Leicester officesA total of 300 jobs are to be created after Greater Manchester agreed a new partnership with an energy company as part of its bid to become carbon neutral by 2038.
The city region has struck the deal with Octopus Energy Group which will see the company trial the uptake of new green energy tariffs for customers in Greater Manchester..
Through the partnership, Octopus Energy will also create 300 jobs in the area, ranging from data scientists and heat pump engineers to frontline customer support.
You can read the full story here.
Peak Peak is headquartered in Manchester (Image: Peak)A Manchester-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up announced in August that it is creating more than 200 jobs within the following 12 months after it raised $75m in a funding round with the world’s largest technology investor.
The confirmation came after BusinessLive reported that SoftBank’s Vision Fund II had agreed to acquire a stake in Peak, which counts PepsiCo and the fashion retailer PrettyLittleThing among its clients.
The news also came after Peak announced in February it was to create 130 jobs after it raised $21m through a Series B funding round led by London-based venture capital firm Oxx, with participation from MMC Ventures and Praetura Ventures and new investor Arete.
At the time, the move brought Peak’s total funding raised to $43m.
You can read the full story here.
Beelivery One of the Beelivery vehiclesA North West-based delivery firm that already employs 50,000 UK drivers said in July that it will double that number over the coming two years.
Beelivery has begun another enormous recruitment drive, with the hired drivers able to pick and choose when they work, and accept or reject trips as they wish.
Launched in 2015, it’s not the first massive jobs announcement by the firm in recent months. In September last year, the firm announced it was to hire 20,000 staff – taking its total headcount to 40,000 by Christmas. That figure is now 50,000 – and is set to grow to 100,000 by 2023.
You can read the full story here.
Virgin Media (Image: PA)Virgin Media announced it will create 100 new customer service jobs in Manchester as the firm continues the rollout of its ultrafast network.
The firm, which has been praised for investing in the city and “providing brilliant career opportunities”, said applications for the full and part-time roles based in Wythenshawe are now open.
It currently employs over 450 customer service staff across the city, with its wider mission to “upgrade the UK and supercharge communities”.
You can read the full story here.
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