A NEW Job Centre is to open in the Kingfisher Shopping Centre in a bid to help fill some of the hundreds of vacancies in the town.
The new centre, set to be located opposite TK Maxx on the upper floor, will open in 10 days and will run in tandem with the one of the town library.
The news comes as the claimant count for Universal Credit once again falls, for the eighth time in a row.
Gwyn Sherriff, regional partnership manager for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We have an absolute plethora of vacancies.
“Because of Covid have been limited in the number of people they can see.
“Now we have taken on more work coaches and opening more second sites in towns so we can see more people face to face.”
Vacancies on offer in Redditch include for some 200 staff at the new Amazon warehouse at the Eastern Gateway as well as for Redditch based Blue Earth Foods on Moons Moat and Sigma Call Services on Prospect Hill – to name but three.
Further afield there are vacancies with HS2 and Worcester Bosch and for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“There are a lot of vacancies in the warehouse sector while we also have companies like Asda and B&Q all advertising their Christmas vacancies,” said Gwyn.
She added the hospitality and particularly the care sector were also looking for staff.
“We have not had the fall out that we were expecting from furlough ending, not half the number of people we thought with far more going back to their jobs or quickly finding new positions.
“It means its good figures for the unemployment figures but for employers its proving difficult to find people.”
For those in receipt of Universal Credit there is also the opportunity to embark on learning new skills like HGV driving for free, as well as coaching to help people get into the civil service.
Rachel Maclean, MP for Redditch, said: “The claimant count data is extremely encouraging as it shows the unemployment rate in Redditch has fallen for the eighth month in a row.
“It’s reassuring that the end of the furlough scheme in September does not appear to have led to an increase in the number of people out-of-work.
“This is another sign that the Government’s Plan for Jobs is working. Since the plan was launched last year, almost 1,000 people in Redditch have got back into work.”
