Asda defies recession with 7,000 new UK jobs

Supermarket giant Asda has brought some good news to the retail sector announcing it is to create 7,000 jobs this year.

The group said approximately 3,700 of the new jobs will be created as a result of the opening of 14 new stores and 15 existing sites extended.

The group, which is part of US retailing giant Wal-Mart, said a further 2,000 jobs will be created by extending its home shopping business Asda.com, with around 1,000 more through organic growth and 120 in its opticians and in-store pharmacies.

Chief executive, Andy Bond, told Sky News that it will be helping 3,000 long-term unemployed get back into work by specifically targeting them for existing vacancies in the business.

Furthermore, the supermarket said it is to work with Remploy, the Government agency, to try to secure employment for a considerable number of disabled people currently without jobs.

The news from Asda follows on from Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Morrisons and Tesco who recently said they would create 24,000 new jobs between them.

However, while the new positions will certainly be good news for the economy, there has been further bad news today as engineering group GKN warned it may axe more jobs as a result of the slump in the car industry.

Meanwhile, home shopping retailer Shop Direct is axing almost 1,000 positions at its call centre in Crosby, while Thames Water has announced 300 job losses.

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