The body responsible for planning and building the London 2012 Olympics has published its employment and skills strategy for the Games.
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has set itself a target of at least 10-15% of the contractor workforce to live locally and at least 7% to have been previously unemployed.
Now to me both those figures seem a bit on the low side. The government has been banging on ever since London won the bid that the Olympics will regenerate the East End of London and provide thousands of much-needed new jobs for local residents.
The five 'host' boroughs in which the Games will be held - Newham, Hackney, Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich - have high levels of unemployment, particularly among the ethnic minority population.
The ODA should be pulling out all the stops to fill the estimated 10,000 new jobs that are going to be available in the run up to 2012 through local labour.
Giving itself a target of between 10-15% is aiming too low in my opinion. Why not set a really challenging target of double that and go all out to beat it?
Another problem is that most of these jobs might cease to exist once the building work is complete. What happens then? What will be the so-called 'legacy' in terms of skills and jobs once the stadiums have been completed and the athletes have gone home?
The ODA is insisting part of its strategy is to help people develop sustainable skills and future careers. Whether that happens in reality remains to be seen.
Comments (1)
Perhaps the Americans are bringing over Polish labour to build it, they do not want those striking Brits to ruin all the profits by going on strike for £6 a hour.
Posted by Robert | February 22, 2008 7:13 PM
Posted on February 22, 2008 19:13