The latest employment and skills figures published by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) show that the combined Olympic Park and Athletes' Village ‘big build’ workforce has reached 12,112.
This is likely to be close to the peak of the workforce as work on the permanent venues is on track to complete by this summer in time for test events ahead of the Games.
Of the current ‘big build’ workforce nearly a quarter (24%) are resident in the five Olympic Park Host Boroughs and six out of ten live in London (60%).
The ODA also published annual figures for the British citizenship and nationality of the Olympic Park and Athletes' Village workforce. Nearly two-thirds (64%) are British citizens and nine out of ten (90%) are EU nationals.
Programmes set up to maximise the ‘big build’ employment legacy have helped more than 1,200 previously unemployed local people gain work on the Olympic Park, delivered more than 3,000 places training people for work on the Olympic Park and other construction sites and enabled 408 apprentices to work on the project.
ODA Chairman John Armitt said: 'The "big build" of the Olympic Park and Village is on track and within budget and that is testament to the commitment and skill of the contractors and workforce.
'In a challenging period for the construction industry our contractors were employing 12,000 people and meeting our targets to take on local people and apprentices. Thousands of jobs up and down the country have also been created and protected in the supply chains delivering 2012 work.'
The ODA’s ‘Jobs, Skills, Futures’ targets include delivering an Olympic Park construction workforce made up of at least 15 per cent of residents of the five host boroughs.
The latest Office for National Statistics Annual Population Survey (2009) showed that residents of the five Olympic Park host boroughs that were born outside of the UK range from between 26% to 48%.
The ODA works closely with the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to ensure people working on site are legally entitled to do so. Since construction started UKBA representatives have been on site working in partnership with security staff and contractors checking the documentation for workers before they start work on the Olympic Park and Village.
The ‘Jobs, Skills, Futures’ strategy to boost the Olympic Park jobs and skills legacy includes:
- A jobs brokerage service, in partnership with Jobcentre Plus and the five Host Boroughs, that matches candidates living locally and elsewhere in the UK with Olympic Park job opportunities. Since April 2008, 1268 jobs have been filled through the brokerage, which gives local people 48 hours priority access to jobs before they are advertised more widely.
- A National Skills Academy for Construction, funded by ConstructionSkills, and supported by the Skills Funding Agency and the London Development Agency, which has delivered 3,259 training places. This coordinates training across a range of providers, which includes the Thames House Training Centre, in addition to a Plant Training centre for people to get the skills needed to win work on the Olympic Park and other construction sites and continue their career development once in work.
- A commitment to an additional 250 apprenticeships to be created on the Olympic Park and Athletes' Village, bringing the total to 350, including through the introduction of a specific requirement to take on apprentices in future contracts. This clause sets a target of three per cent for apprentices in the future workforce of projects currently being procured. Currently 408 apprentices have worked on the project.
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