Foreign direct investment (FDI) has become a key element for the economic reactivation of Bogota, especially in terms of employment. This was announced by the agency Invest in Bogotá in its most recent report.
The analysis revealed that, between 2017 and 2021, more than 86,000 jobs were created through the expansion of Foreign Direct Investment projects. The main sectors impacted were software and IT services (28%), corporate services (13%), consumer products (10%), financial services (8%), and communications (6%).
As for the countries with the highest number of projects with jobs generated in the same period, the list was headed by the United States (33%), Canada (11%), France (9%), Mexico (7%), and Spain (6%).
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According to the report, 2021 was a special case, thanks to a record being reached with the creation of about 21,000 direct jobs through FDI projects focused on Bogotá-Region, the equivalent of 51% of total jobs generated throughout Colombia by FDI for the same period.
The document also indicates that, on average, 185 jobs were generated by each new and foreign investment expansion project last year.
Bogota-Region is positioning itself for these type of projects with the professional preparation of employees. This was explained by the executive director of Invest in Bogota, Isabella Muñoz, who highlighted that more than 180,000 people graduate from higher education each year. "The workforce in Bogota-Región is one of the main competitive factors for attracting FDI projects," Muñoz said.
The employment area with the most hiring throughout the year was the software and computer services sector in which 11,826 jobs were generated. These account for 59% of the total jobs generated by FDI in 2021. Another sector of international interest is the area of health care, in which FDI projects contributed to the creation of approximately 1200 direct jobs.
According to the agency, this growth trend is expected to be repeated again in 2022. More than 3000 direct jobs generated by FDI have been identified so far this year and investment in Bogota-Region is increasingly attractive for foreign companies.
