Northern Ireland's battered economy has received a boost with the creation of more than 600 call centre jobs along the border.

The 610 posts, to be based in Newry, are being created at Teleperformance, part of a global group of contact centres. The announcement was made today by Northern Ireland's enterprise minister, Arlene Foster, during a visit to the city.

The positions range from customer service advisers to operations managers. Teleperformance, which is French-owned, has premises in Newry and Bangor, Co Down.

It is a second boost for the province in a week. The Northern Irish call centre operator Gem said yesterday it expected to create about 900 jobs over the next three years with an investment of £5.5m from Invest NI. The company currently has sites in Belfast and Londonderry.