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The £6 billion Olympic building project employs one in four workers from overseas, official figures revealed today.
Employment data published by the Olympic Delivery Authority showed that foreigners made up 24 per cent of the 6,277 workers on the Olympic Park in the past 12 months.
Eastern European workers mainly from Romania, Lithuania and Poland made up six per cent of the Games workforce, with workers from Nepal and India accounting for four per cent. Seventy six per cent were British workers with eight per cent coming from Ireland.
The number of overseas workers has fallen from 29 per cent in the previous 12 months.
It is thought the recession has bought more British construction workers to the Government-funded Stratford site as other privately-funded projects across the UK have been mothballed.
Experts said it was probably evidence of other large European economies such as Germany beginning to attract migrant workers from eastern Europe.
Nationality of the Games workforce has come under the spotlight since Prime Minister Gordon Brown heralded the 2012 project as an opportunity to create “British jobs for British workers”.
The ODA said 53 per cent of workers were from London and 20 per cent were “local” workers classified as those living in one of the five Olympic host boroughs, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Newham and Greenwich. The ODA classify a worker as local even if they have been living in those East End boroughs for just one day.
But concerns remain that the official data exaggerates the true employment benefit to the East End. Doubts about whether the workforce is “local” were railed when it was revealed that in 2008 Newham received a record 20,000 applications for national Insurance numbers needed to register for work.
In total there are 9,164 Olympic workers including the 2,887 building the £1bn Olympic village.
But the ODA did not include village workers in its statistical breakdown as the project was not taken over by the Government until midway through 2009.
An Olympic source said: “These figures nail some of the myths about the proportion of the Olympic Park workforce having a large number of foreign workers, the majority are British workers.”
Reader views (19)
6 billion , lets see what the final figure will be?.
Built on time and budget no chance, remember where you read it on this day 21/01/10.
This is the U.K. they don't know the meaning of BUDGET?.
- John L., Scarborough N.Yorkshire,England. U.K., 21/01/2010 22:24
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darren(british company director)
they might work hard as you say.
you will probably pay them buttons
- Peter, glasgow scotland, 21/01/2010 19:14
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to huggy and gazza you are quite right mate have worked since i was 15 now 63 hgv class 1 drove everthing you can think of. but the poles working in the north probably the same down south.they are working for wages that are just above the minimum level/living 5/6 to a house contribute
nothing and claim all sorts ofmoney from the gov:
sorry its a bit of a rant mate hope things get better for us all
- Peter, glasgow scotland, 21/01/2010 19:06
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well, that's what you'll get more of if Labour win again..
- John, uk, 21/01/2010 18:51
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the foreign workers won't care if it's completed on time for the Olympics and it won't be.
- Squiz, Islington, 21/01/2010 18:03
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I wish they would take all these workers and the Stadium and build it somewhere else,abroad !!we do not have the room for this rubbish on this Island !!
- Davey_Bouy, Chertsey, 21/01/2010 17:32
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So 3 out of 4, or 75% are from the UK then?
- Mikkiduk, Hackney, London., 21/01/2010 17:31
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24% foreign workers = 50% of the reason the Games are on time and in budget!
- S Robertson,, London, 21/01/2010 17:09
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My oh my what a vivid imagination some of us have?
Its amazing what you can do with one set of figures isn't it.......tell any story you like so long as you present it the right way.
- Tony, Hove England, 21/01/2010 17:00
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So it will be finished on time then.
- Ht, uk, 21/01/2010 16:59
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i am unemployed 38 years old never been out of work in my life (qualified carpenter)They have offices in 6 london boroughs near the site FOR jobs FOR local people been to see them maybe every 2 weeks on average and constantly told there is no jobs, local jobs for local people, what a load of rubbish
- Steven O Mahoney Woodford Green, essex, 21/01/2010 16:27
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It's a fallacy that the British worker is lazy and incompetance. They are the best trained skilled workers in the world. The management is to blame for impossible deadlines and unrealistic cost pricing as they have never worked with tools before and they go for the easy options of unskilled Poles etc for cheap labour. Look to thier country and see what they can boast about the buildings to be proud of.
I rest my case.
- Joe, Swanley Kent, 21/01/2010 16:02
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The majority of UK and especially London builders committed suicide years ago with their slack time keeping, unwillingness to put in any real effort, opaque pricing and general attitude that they are doing you a favour etc. We have tried, you have failed and are now reaping the consequences of your appalling attitude and unprofessionalism.
- Nelly, The Wild East, 21/01/2010 15:17
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So the contractors favour the British,as only 40% of Londoners are British.
- Dave, london, 21/01/2010 15:04
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With youth unemployment at a high level this would have been a great opportunity for the government to introduce apprenticeships and give young British workers a chance. This was ignored so foreign workers come in while many British youngsters are left with no prospects.
Things could only get better was the cry when Labour were elected. Unfortunately the government were not prepared to create employment where it mattered they only wanted to give public servants pointless jobs.
- Nick, London, 21/01/2010 14:58
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So all the work goes to Londoners and foreigners?
-Was it beyond the wit of man to devise a scheme to encourage suitable unemployed British workers to come to London? -Same old same.
- Huggy, Cumbernauld Scotland, 21/01/2010 14:15
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Our government pretends to believe in "carbon footprints" & man
made global warming.
Yet it must have known that these wretched "games" will put up the permanent population of London by thousands.
Never mind a couple of thousand immigrant workers we know about,
what about the illegals ?
Even those who return home may leave local women pregnant.
If they choose to stay, they can import their families as dependents.
Then we have to ask ourselves how many of the millions of visitors
will return, or leave pregnant local women.
I believe the Olympics will increase the permanent population of the London area
by at least 5,000 within 12 months of the opening & possibly many more
- Convenient Truth, Reading, 21/01/2010 13:57
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Wonder what the figures would look like if they re-defined British as British born?
- Gazza, London,England, 21/01/2010 13:48
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Well at least it will be built on time and budget because i know how hard they work and there be no striking or other british worker nonsense.
- Darran (British Company Director), S/LINCS, 21/01/2010 13:43
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