By Robert Wall
LONDON--British aerospace companies plan to repatriate jobs as
companies look to boost investments next year in preparation for a
boost in exports.
Jobs are being brought back from other European countries, the
U.S., China, and Latin America, the U.K.'s aerospace industry group
ADS said Monday citing a new survey.
"Companies are looking strategically at how the work they are
doing is distributed," Paul Everitt, chief executive of the trade
organization said. Wage inflation is running higher in many
low-cost countries such as those in eastern Europe and China than
in the U.K., reducing the benefits of locating work overseas, he
said.
Less than 2% of U.K. aerospace work has gone offshore in the
last three years, according to responses ADS received from its 850
members that include companies such as Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC and
BAE Systems PLC.
"Low-cost labor really hasn't delivered for them," Mr. Everitt
said. U.K. government backing for the sector has helped bring jobs
back home, he said.
"Our industrial strategy is ensuring that Britain is well-placed
to capitalize on the huge growth anticipated in the aerospace
sector," U.K. Business Secretary Vince Cable said in a
statement.
Employment in the U.K. aerospace sector reached 109,100 direct
jobs last year, surpassing the level seen in 2008 before almost
8,000 jobs were cut in the next two years.
A majority of the 12% of ADS members responding to the survey
also said growth in the next 12 months should top 10% after the
industry expanded 9.4% last year. Aerospace companies have
benefited from rising output at Boeing Co. and Airbus Group NV as
the world's two leading makers of passenger planes seek to satisfy
airline demand for new jets.
The need for increased output will prompt 74% of surveyed
companies to boost their investment spending during the next year.
"That level was higher than we would have expected," Mr. Everitt
said. Only 11% of companies surveyed expect investments to
fall.
-Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com
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