The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) today revealed that up to 30,000 people will help build the London 2012 Olympic Park and Olympic Village over the next few years.
Thousands of job opportunities will be created this year for, among others, bricklayers, wood workers, electricians, security guards, administrators and support staff, the ODA said.
As the big build accelerates in 2009, the active workforce is expected to more than treble from the current level of 3,315, to a peak of 11,000 on the Olympic Park and Olympic Village in 2010.
However, this Olympic jobs boost is unlikely to prevent large-scale unemployment in the construction sector, a Local Government Association spokesman told Personnel Today.
“While it is a stimulus, given the collapse of the building and housing market, there is going to be a huge amount of unemployed skilled construction workers out there,” he said.
“The Olympics may be a saviour for some people, but they are cutting back on so many big building projects. The Olympics will more alleviate than cure the [unemployment] problem.”
The ODA also made a commitment to boosting the Olympic Park jobs and skills legacy. Two-hundred and fifty new dedicated apprenticeship opportunities will be created on the Olympic Park, including the Olympic Village, on top of an existing commitment to 2,000 training and apprenticeship roles.
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To support this pledge, the ODA will contractually require companies to provide the average level of apprenticeships for England and Wales (3% of the workforce) and exceed the average for London and the South East, on new contracts worth a total of around £500m.
