Skip to main content

Olympic Games 2012: Job Creation

Volume 503: debated on Monday 11 January 2010

To ask the Minister for the Olympics how many new jobs had been created as a consequence of the hosting of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many such new jobs she expects to be created in each of the next three years. (308477)

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) publishes data on the construction contractor workforce each quarter on the London 2012 website. The latest figures as at the end of September 2009, showed that 7,270 people were working on the Olympic Site, of which 2,428 were working on the Village. Of those working on the Park, 21 per cent. were people from the five Olympic host boroughs. The ODA expects construction on the Park and Village to have created work for 30,000 people by 2012, with the number of workers on site is expected to peak at 11,000 during 2010.

The employment legacy is not limited to those working on the Olympic site. Companies across the UK are winning Games related work, creating employment. The investment in major public projects, like the London 2012 Games, is also supporting the construction industry.

The ODA currently employs 222 people. This figure is forecasted to reduce as projects are completed.

LOCOG estimates that a contracted workforce of 100,000 people will be needed to stage the Games. It is also expected that new opportunities will be created in sectors such as tourism, leisure, hospitality—6,700 new opportunities are expected to be created in retail, hotels and restaurants—and in sport and media because of our hosting of the Games.

LOCOG currently employs approximately 500 people. This number is forecasted to rise to 1,000 people by December 2010, and to 1,700 by December 2011. The number of people employed by LOCOG during Games time is expected to reach 6,000 including temporary Games-time roles.

After the Games, up to 10,000 new permanent jobs are expected to be created on the Park, and more created in the wider Lower Lea valley as a result of the regeneration in the area.

Further to the creation of new employment opportunities, the London Development Agency and its partners, including Jobcentre Plus, aim to use the Games to reduce unemployment across the capital by 70,000 by 2012 through programmes such as Personal Best and the Employer Accord. By September 2009 it had achieved 14,000 against this target.