FactCheck: Tracking down Tesco’s new jobs
The claim
“Tesco (is) to create 20,000 new jobs”
Tesco press release, 5 March 2010
Cathy Newman checks it out
It’s a mark of the suspicion with which corporate Britain is currently viewed that Tesco’s “good news” story about new jobs immediately prompts a barrage of questions about what the supermarket chain’s hiding.
The firm might have expected its promise to create 20,000 jobs over the next two years to be enthusiastically endorsed – or at least, to borrow from its own slogan, to be embraced with the verdict “every little helps”.
But few are prepared to take what Tesco says on trust. Do these figures strip out jobs lost? Are they full-time posts? Over to the team.
The analysis
This isn’t the first time Tesco has promised to boost the UK’s job market. In 2010, Tesco pledged to create 9,000 new jobs in the UK.
A year later however, official figures from the UK’s largest private sector employer revealed that the number of its UK employees had risen by 6,210 to a total of 293,676 in 2011. That’s total job numbers, which includes full-time and part-time jobs.
But if you tot up all the hours worked it would translate to a rise in full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs that year of 3,592 – less than half of the number of new jobs promised.
Just two years before that in 2008, Tesco promised to create 6,000 new jobs in the UK – but managed just to add on just 503 FTE jobs.
In fact, in the five years since 2007 Tesco has boosted the number of FTE jobs by 16,505.
Nevertheless, a spokesman for Tesco insisted: “Tesco has created the jobs it promised to create each year since 2008.”
How can they make that claim? Tesco told us that the headline total jobs figure for the UK is pulled down by redundancies, retirements and natural turnover.
However, the group couldn’t prove it – because it refused to break-out those numbers and allow us to look at the figures like-for-like.
The retailer would also not tell FactCheck how many jobs would be full-time, temporary or part-time.
A spokesman said that the 20,000 new jobs would be a “mix”.
Meanwhile, the retail giant announced plans today to boost the number of apprenticeships it will offer over the next two years by 10,000.
For the first time, apprenticeships will be offered to new employees (at the moment is it only available to existing employees).
This is a huge leap from the 3,000 apprenticeships it took on in the last year – but not all of them will be for young people. Tesco told us that 45 per cent of its 3,000 apprentices are under 25; while many are in their 60s. “We don’t think there should be an age limit,” a spokesman for the retailer told us.
As for where the new jobs and apprenticeships would be within the business, we were told to wait until next month’s preliminary interim report for more detail on the jobs pledge.
Sadly, that’ll be after the Chancellor’s Budget is revealed on March 21. Yet as James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, pointed out – these numbers matter to Westminster.
He said: “Tesco are allowing (the) government to draw the wrong conclusions about retail as a whole. For most retailers, large and small, it’s a case of hanging onto the jobs they can already offer, cutting back hours where necessary and scrutinising every budget line to the bone.”
Tesco however insists it will add 20,000 new employees to its workforce within the next two years.
Cathy Newman’s verdict
Tesco might feel rather sore that an apparently positive announcement is met with such scepticism. But until it can provide more detail about these jobs, suspicions must remain.
If many of these 20,000 jobs end up being part-time, the pledge is less impressive. And over the last five years, it has fallen well short of its promises on job creation as far as we can tell.
So unless the economy recovers rapidly and strongly – an unlikely scenario – FactCheck suggests you buy some own-brand table salt to accompany Tesco’s claim.
The analysis by Emma Thelwell
There are 11 comments on this post
What I do no understand is how Tesco can benefit from inflating these figures?
Why would they do that?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
They’ve had some bad press recently, aggressive land purchases, like down here in Bridgwater where the tory-controlled council happily demolished our swimming facility to make way for Tesco AND allowed them to purchase a plot of common land (ours) next to the site of the wrecked indoor pool, against the wishes of the locals who wanted their swimming facility badly, and another supermarket like a hole in the head.
They’re trying to restore the balance between corporate misdeeds, funny handshakes with councillors leading to undemocratic assent, and the recent debacle where they were offering “jobs” for job seekers allowance as a “wage” undwer the governments shambolic slave labour scheme. If they have work to do, they should pay the wages, NOT the taxpayer??
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
How many are temporary, its fine saying 20,000, but if these jobs only last 3 months.. or 6 Months and after that a person is back on the dole..It doesnt help the job figures.
Then if you hire one person for 3 Months, then no renew the contract, and get them back in have they created 2 jobs?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
how many jobs are LOST when a Tesco moves into an area. surely that’s an important apart of the equation? I seem to remember that the overall effect is jobs neutral or even worse there is a reduction of jobs in that area.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
While you are looking at jobs consider the following,
How many local jobs have been lost within communities where a Tesco has opened, through high street shop closures and local village shops garages closing/downsizing.
Also consider how much goverment funding has been paid to Tesco and other supermarkets re job creation schemes.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
None of the present coverage of Tesco job claims seems to consider the basic fact that there is only a finite amount of shopping to be done by a population, and therefore serviced by jobs in retail. As Tesco builds more stores, and operates ever more efficiently, it therefore causes job-losses in other businesses. So the claimed increases are “net” increases solely from the perspective of Tesco itself and not the overall economy.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Tesco is under absolutely no obligation to offer more jobs, adding full time or part time, even if they are partly cancelled by redundency is a plus. Of course Tesco want some good press, they were hammered over Xmas but, if they employ 1 extra person, with no cost to the tax payer or government, surely that’s better than maintaining the status quo?
Tesco along with other retailers are now in a difficult position, share holders want proffit, employees want higher wages and customers want cheap pricing. Tesco, sainsburys, B&Q etc have to take all this & then decide, do we employ Paul, bob and Mary as stock control or, bring in an automated system, do we employ sasha, philip and sue on tills it, invest in self service checkouts, do we open more stores or, increase our online presence. We the British public don’t help, how many people go through self service like sheep, your removing a till job that even you might need one day, how many people shop online as its a little cheaper? Bet you’d be scuppered if they closed the shop though!
Even items such as carpet and TV’s where you want to go and see them, feel them, make an educated decision on what to buy people then go online to…
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
They must think we’re stupid – protests over ‘workfare’ (where’s the press coverage of the protests?!) and within days 20 thousand jobs. I don’t think so. how many of those are for the builders and shopfitters?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I do not blame Tescos, but there is an issue over the reporting of ‘new’ jobs.
The jobs may be ‘new’ to Tescos, but they may represent a net loss to the local economy.
Let’s take one area. Tescos open a new store of expand selling space, product range etc.
Say 200 jobs.
But this will impact upon local stores, so jobs will be lost if consumers switch to the store from buying in other areas.
So jobs move from high street to Tescos. Balanced.
The offer that makes consumers move is often price. So how to Tescos reduce the cost?
Much of their food production is overseas in low cost economies or using factory production techniques. Cheaper labour, fewer health and safety and environmental protections, equal cheaper food.
As a consequence local supply chains previously serving the small shops, lose out and consequently end if they are unable to compete on price. So jobs are lost of wages are suppressed further. Spending power is reduced and the impact hits spending in the local area.
The net result is that more jobs are lost.
So Tescos announcing ‘new’ 200 jobs in an area could mean the loss of supply chain and a move of retail selling.
The result…
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Of course many of these jobs are low paid with wages being made up by Tax Credits so inadvertently the Tax payer is contributing.
This whilst Tesco’s made a profit of £3.2Bn last year, or £10Mn a day. My heart bleeds for their poor shareholders. Who runs Britain really?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
People ask, who runs the country and moan about Tesco.
There are some fair point but, you have the power!
We live in High Wycombe, we use Tesco for bits & bobs but, once a week we go to a local bucher & a farm shop.
Now before you get on your high horse about prices, the farm shop, I get a massive box full of fruit & veg, it costs circa £10, you absolutely could not get away with paying that in a supermarket, it also stays fresh & nice for well over a week as its out the ground @ in my cupboard, so it’s not going bad in a depot. The butcher, well we had a treat on saturday, 3 fantastic sirloin steaks, 14 oz’s a piece, £22 the lot. The meat we get is always fantastic quality, the chicken is more expensive than supermarket fare, everything else is about the same so……home many of you have made a conscious effort to shop with the local businesses you say struggle?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0