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Official: Third of 2012 workers from overseas
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent5 Dec 2008
The London Olympics is employing one third of its workers from overseas, official statistics released today reveal.
Detailed figures on the nationality of workers hired by the Olympic Delivery Authority were released for the first time after a Freedom of Information request from the Evening Standard.
Of the 3,046 workers on the Olympic Park, 63 per cent are British and eight per cent are Irish.
The remaining 29 per cent are foreign workers with 14 per cent of the overall total from non- European Union countries. A table of the top 10 nationalities shows that 227 Olympic workers come from Romania with India the next largest overseas contributor to the Games workforce with 90 workers.
Poland, Lithuania and Nepal each currently contribute two per cent - or around 70 employees - of the 2012 workforce.
The ODA said they could not all be classified as "migrant" workers but instead reflected the multi-national boroughs surrounding the Olympic site.
Employment at the Olympic Park has come under the spotlight after Labour MP Frank Field revealed in the Evening Standard last month that there had been 20,000 applications for National Insurance numbers in the Olympic Borough of Newham in the previous year.
The disclosure led to concerns over claims of a 2012 "skills legacy" for British workers on the Olympic site, which will employ 9,000 workers at the 2010 peak.
The surge in NI applications is also due to the employment prospects on the £1.4billion Stratford City shopping centre and other major infrastructure projects in the Thames Gateway.
ODA chief executive David Higgins said: "It is important that we continue to cement a London 2012 employment legacy by ensuring local and previously unemployed people are accessing jobs and training on the Olympic Park."
London mayor Boris Johnson said: "If the rate of Londoners employed on building the Games continues at this level it will make a significant contribution towards sustaining the capital's economy."
Reader views (7)
1/3 of the work force, thats nothing what about the MILLIONS that will come to the games and refuse to leave because they want a better life. As Blair said if people want to come here "let them" What ever they ask for "give it to them". The man that BROKE Britain Billy Liar and things can only get better!
- Mike,, London, 10/12/2008 14:35
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Are they resident or non resident foreigners as that makes a big difference?
If they are living legally in the UK whats the problem?
- Peter Glazier, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 10/12/2008 14:31
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I ave said for over 10 years that if you really wanted a job you would find one. The only reason people were on the dole was by choice. The way the benefits are worked out sometimes makes it of very little financial worth to work. Stop the giros for a month and believe me they would soon find a job. I have worked with people here who claim incapacity benefit back in the UK and rent out ther flats as well which the taxpayer is already funding. Its just a shame we have NO party willing to take an axe to the whole benefits system.
- Duncan Walker, Ex Peckham now Samui Thailand, 07/12/2008 02:30
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Gordon Brown may talk the talk but he certainly doesn't walk the walk. British jobs for British people? Fair enough EU citizens are perfectly within their rights to work here just as we are there but why on earth do we have 14% of the those employed being from non-EU countries? Builders, joiners, scaffolders, plumbers, electricians and drivers are being made redundant up and down the country yet Gordon brown is still importing cheap labour from outside the EU. It's madness.
- Bruce Mcaaw, Grantham, 05/12/2008 23:28
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Are they the same workers who built Wembley, look how overdue that was. Can we wait until 2014 for the Olympics?
- Pat, Essex, 05/12/2008 22:18
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Who said BRITISH JOBS FOR BRITISH PEOPLE, They lie.
- Clive, HOVE. SUSSEX .ENGLAND., 05/12/2008 21:08
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So one can assume that there is not anyone being paid cash at any of the sites?
- Claire Elizabeth, London UK, 05/12/2008 18:45
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