Good news at last: 1,300 new jobs

Published on Thursday 20 August 2009 21:56

SCOTLAND has received a major jobs boost with the announcement of around 1,300 new positions as a result of multi-million-pound investments by Tesco and the Arnold Clark motor group.

The new jobs were welcomed by Chancellor Alistair Darling when he visited the two companies yesterday and said he remained cautiously optimistic that the UK economy would experience the first signs of growth at the turn of the year.

Tesco Personal Finance is to create 800 call centre-type jobs with the opening of a new customer service facility on the site of the old STV headquarters in Cowcaddens, Glasgow. At the same time, Arnold Clark said it would creating 700 new jobs in the UK by February 2010, of which around 500 will be north of the Border.

Europe's largest independently owned motor dealer is creating new positions in Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Manchester, Warrington, Stafford and Huddersfield. Recruitment will start immediately.

The Tesco Personal Finance jobs will be in the company's banking services, loans and credit card departments. Tesco was encouraged to locate in Scotland by a 5million Regional Selective Assistance grant from the Scottish Government. It was given on the basis that Tesco is making a 10m investment in Scotland.

The Chancellor, who is running the country while Gordon Brown is on holiday, attended the official press conference. He said: "Over the last year, the financial services industry, and banking in particular, has taken quite a battering. Unfortunately, as a result of what has happened, there have been a number of job losses. It is therefore very welcome that Tesco is announcing 800 new jobs."

He said Scotland and Glasgow were important to the UK's financial sector, pointing out that 70 per cent of people employed in finance had jobs outside London. Mr Darling added that some of the people who would be employed by Tesco Personal Finance would be former employees of RBS and HBOS, forced to shed jobs as a result of the financial crisis.

The Chancellor stood by his earlier prediction that Britain would begin to come out of recession during the new year, given that France, Germany and Japan were experiencing economic growth. But he added that his forecast should be tempered with some caution. "I am confident that will happen, but we are right to remain cautious, because there are lot of pitfalls on the way."

Mr Darling added that Tesco's announcement was encouraging because he wanted to see more competition in Scotland's much-maligned banking sector.

"The last couple of years has seen a significant reduction in the number of people, both from abroad and British-based banks, who are lending into the market," he said.

Arnold Clark's new positions include 500 sales jobs and 120 apprentices.