Foreign investors flock to the UK

The UK continues to top the league of European countries when it comes to attracting the interest of foreign investors – but that investment is "no panacea for employment growth", according to an Ernst & Young report.

While the UK attracted 728 foreign direct investment projects last year, up 7 per cent on 2009, the report shows that only 21,000 jobs were created, only one-quarter of the levels seen 13 years ago.

The gap was down to the fact that investments "no longer come with a guarantee of larger job numbers, as the average number of jobs per project is decreasing", according to Ernst & Young partner James Close, who added that the trend could be seen accelerating across other European countries.