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JAMES LOWMAN
At a time of high unemployment it is no surprise that the government welcomes wholeheartedly news of job creation, including Number 10 even issuing their own press release about Asda's announcement of 5,000 new jobs.
I don't want to rubbish these claims, but I do want to make sure that they are properly scrutinised. I hope that the national media and politicians study what new jobs are really being created here, but more importantly I hope that local councils look into the claims of new jobs when supermarket planning applications are submitted. It's here that the rhetoric translates into the cold hard facts of new stores and a long-term impact on communities, so planners need to know what they are signing up to.
Here are some areas they should look in scrutinising these claims. Firstly, over what period of time are the people to be employed? A typical period stated in planning applications is three years, which is worth bearing in mind if the application refers to the numbers of people joining the company, but omits to count the number of people leaving the store. As it stands, job claims might be for seasonal staff joining for a handful of weeks, and this shouldn't be allowed to count as a new job created when it's so temporary. Similarly, staff leaving and being replaced should count as one job, not one for each time the role is filled, as often happens now.
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