Baton Rouge, La (NBC44) — Governor Bobby Jindal and tech company Ameritas are promising the city of Baton Rouge 300 new IT jobs.

Ameritas will be opening a software development center in the Chase high rise in downtown Baton Rouge.

The company’s owner said the reason they settled on Baton Rouge was the welcoming business environment.

Jindal stated it's important to lure good jobs to the state to keep people in Louisiana.

“I know there's a national debate about jobs going overseas,” said Jindal. “Ameritas is proving American workers can compete with workers anywhere in the world and perform that work right here."

The company will start employing people by October, but won't reach the full 300 employees until 2014.

Ameritas also plans to partner with local colleges and universities to train IT workers.