HOME care provider Mears Care is created 80 new jobs across Northern Ireland.
The company said it responding to an ageing population and a growing demand for its services.
It wants to take on more staff across the Belfast and South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust areas.
It said the positions would be split between Belfast, Lisburn and south Down.
The new jobs include 48 permanent roles, 12 apprentices and a further 20 positiions for unemployed people seeking to get back into work.
Mears Care provides services for people who require extra support to help them continue living in familiar surroundings and in comfort at home.
The firm's operations manager in the north Alistair Fitzsimons said: “The increasing number of people requiring support means that demand for home care services is growing at an extraordinary rate, with more and more people realising that this is viable and affordable alternative to residential care, or nursing homes.
“We have more than 20 years’ experience delivering a reliable and high quality service to our community and our care teams support every hour of every day with some of the routine tasks we all take for granted, such as washing, dressing, making a meal or taking medication.”
Recent figures show that more than four million people over the age of 65 in the UK – around one in two - have some sort of care need. And around two million have difficulty with one or more daily tasks, such as washing, dressing, cooking or eating.
Mr Fitzsimons added: “Our employees come from all backgrounds and many have found a huge change in their own quality of life when they’ve come to work for us. There’s enormous job satisfaction from working so closely with people and knowing that your personal input makes a real difference to the quality of their lives by enabling them to remain living in their own homes as independently as possible.”
