Commercial property supermarket giant Tesco is to create 20,000 new jobs as it tries to counter the damaging impact of being caught in the centre of a ‘slave labour’ row.
The new workers, many of them being young adults, will be employed over the next two years as the commercial property store giant tries to turn around a drop in market share.
The move, which comes weeks after the company delivered its first profits warning in 20 years, was well received by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, who is anxious to promote the Government’s record on dealing with youth unemployment.
It will see Britain’s largest commercial property retailer invest greatly in customer-facing roles. The commercial property company said it plans to revive existing stores and open new ones. The new roles will be a mixture of permanent full-time and part-time jobs.
Mr Cameron commented: “Tesco is one of the world’s leading companies and the biggest private sector employer in the country.”
He further added: “Their commitment to creating jobs and opportunities for young people at what is a difficult time for the economy is fantastic news for the UK as a whole and for those people they will help into work.”
The commercial property chain was recently under attack by campaigners after one store publicised work experience jobs to the young unemployed on the basis of benefits plus expenses. The advertisement was swiftly dropped by Tesco, while other major employers postponed involvement in the controversial work experience scheme.
Ministers accused the campaigners of being involved in a menacing campaign orchestrated by the Socialist Workers Party. Yet, the Government was consequently forced into a bruising U-turn that saw the threat to take away benefits removed.
The commercial property company is the UK’s largest private sector company with more than 290,000 staff, and 70,000 young people below the age of 25.
Supermarket chain Tesco will create 20,000 new job roles in the UK, a number of which will be new apprenticeship roles. The news provides a welcome breather for the company, which has suffered a difficult few weeks.
In January, Tesco admitted it needed to spend millions improving its British commercial properties after delivering a shock profit warning, which wiped more than £5bn off the value of the group’s shares.
The commercial property company has subsequently seen its UK market share fall to 29.7pc, according to Kantar Worldpanel, compared with 30.3pc in early 2011.
Tesco will also give young people the chance to carry on learning by increasing its apprenticeship programme to provide 10,000 apprenticeships, with a significant amount for new starters, which form a portion of the 20,000 new job roles. Existing staff will too have the opportunity to join the apprenticeship scheme.
Tesco said that work experience hopefuls who perform to a good standard will be promised a permanent job. The firm said the average starting salary for permanent staff is £7 an hour.
Richard Brasher, Chief executive, insisted that commercial property supermarket chain Tesco will offer real jobs to the young unemployed. He hailed the decision to axe the threat to take away benefits from people who choose not to pursue a work experience place. 
He said: “From Tesco’s point of view the scheme is purely voluntary. Having no threats is more consistent with voluntary work.”
He further added: “With youth unemployment at record levels, we’re determined to target many of our new jobs at young people currently out of work-so that in this difficult jobs market those who need help the most will get it. In unprecedented economic conditions like these, major businesses have a big responsibility to step forward, invest and create jobs.”
Mr Brasher said the thrust of the new jobs is to enhance customer service.
He said: “At the core of this investment is our determination to deliver the best shopping experience for our customers, bar none. We will invest in more staff on the sales floor at busy times, greater expertise and help in the crucial areas of fresh food, and enhanced quality and service across our stores at all times.”
In the past, Tesco has taken on staff from outside the UK, mainly Poland, to work here. However, Mr Brasher maintained that the new jobs would go to individuals who already live and work here.
The news is expected to come under heavy scrutiny from experts amid claims that major commercial property supermarkets are expanding the number of jobs they actually create. Mr Brasher commented: “This is a commitment to real jobs. In the current climate, people stepping out and creating one new job is a good thing.”
“The great thing about our company is we are of scale, we are growing and therefore we can create jobs for many more,” he said.
In January, some of commercial property firm Asda’s claims were called into interrogation with official records showing that the retailer had not produced as many roles as it had suggested.
Asda said it had been able “to provide over 30,000 job opportunities in the Asda team in 2011”. But, records at Companies House show its employee numbers had increased from 173,000 to 180,000, an increase of 7,000.
At the time, a spokesperson explained that the 30,000 figure included temporary employees as well as the replacement of people that had left the commercial property business.
In spite of recent reverses, Tesco remains the UK’s largest and richest commercial property retailer and is on the right path to make profits of more than £3.5 billion this year.
