Quote ="BillyRhino"Which jobs are those my debagged chum.....the ones you were going to tell us all about?'"
If you have the ability or the wherewithall to locate a document entitled "The Economic Impact of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games" I'd suggest you try and read it. It's published by Oxford Econoimics and Lloyds Banking Group.
Let me give you some extracts.
Legacy Labour market
This chapter quantifies the legacy impacts of London 2012 on the local labour
market through the provision of training and employment which reduces the
impact of previous spells of unemployment on the future employment outcomes
individuals can achieve.
6.1 Training to improve skill levels
The Olympic Development Authority (ODA) has provided support for more than
4,000 training interventions as part of the construction work prior to the 2012
Games (Chart 6.1). These interventions will generate significant positive legacy
impacts on the labour market due to the benefits associated with having a more
highly-qualified workforce.
There is a well developed academic literature setting out the economic benefits
to the individual and society of being more qualified.46 For the individual the
returns to training are increases in the likelihood of being employed and
receiving higher wages. For society there are impacts on employers, work
colleagues and other firms. For example, the individual’s higher productivity
increases the profitability of their employer or the competitiveness of their
products. Co-workers benefit from skill transfers or faster R&D and technology
adoption that boosts their productivity and wages.47 Other firms gain from the
ability to hire more highly qualified labour.
Drawing on information from two academic studies for the Department of
Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)48 and Commission for Employment and
Skills49, on the returns to skills training enables the calculation of the Net Present
Value (NPV) associated with the ODA’s and legacy construction training
interventions.50 The NPV is calculated by estimating the discounted benefits51
from achieving a qualification on the working life of the learner, and subtracting
the costs52 associated with undertaking the qualification.
The results suggest that the 2012 Games construction training interventions will
generate an average wage premium of 7.5% for the recipient workers who
raised their highest qualification level. Moreover, these individuals will, on
average, increase the probability of being in employment over the course of their
working lifetime by 2.8%. In monetary terms, that translates in to a net present
value of £504 million.
6.2 Employment of previously unemployed local people
The estimates of the number of people employed in the construction of the
Olympic Park and Athletes’ Village are discussed in Chapter 2. But, long after
they have stopped working on the project, the workers may still benefit. This is
particularly the case for those who where formerly unemployed. The ODA and
LOCOG published quarterly information in their ‘Employment and Skills Update’,
on the number of the construction workers who were formerly unemployed. The
data shows that around 3,000 of the contractor workforce were London residents
who had previously been unemployed. Around 70% were residents of the host
boroughs (Chart 6.2).
By reducing worklessness, the 2012 Games will provide a positive legacy for the
labour market. The academic literature suggests that periods of unemployment
leave permanent scars on people by affecting the labour market outcome they
achieve in the future.53 In particular, a period of unemployment increases the
likelihood the person will be unemployed in the future and weakens subsequent
job tenure. It is also found to carry a wage penalty of around 10% on average
on returning to work.54
8 Conclusion
London 2012 will make a substantial contribution to UK GDP of £16.5 billion,
with the impacts occurring over an extended time period from the award of the
Games to London, during the Games themselves and through much of the
coming decade, and in some cases even beyond.
Most of the GDP effect linked to the Games (57%) stems from construction
projects occurring before the Games, including the building of the Olympic park
and the development of other sites and venues across the UK.
A further 24% of
the impact is due to post-Games construction activities. In addition, a 12%
contribution to GDP is anticipated from Games-related tourism across the UK
during London 2012 and over the first five legacy years, while spending on the
staging of the event itself is expected to contribute six per cent. At its peak effect
the Games will also help support and create the equivalent of more than 62,200
jobs in London and across the UK.
Most (70%) of the total GDP impact expected from London 2012 will come from
the period in the run up to and including the Games, while their legacy could
generate as much as £5 billion – nearly a third (30%) of the total economic effect
expected - in the five years to 2017.
In that sense the Olympic effect on the UK
economy will not cease with the closing ceremonies.The future benefits to be reaped by the UK economy from the Games include:
£4 billion of construction related GDP generated by legacy projects, including
new housing and infrastructure-related developments; £1 billion of tourism GDP from visitors who would not have visited London
and the UK in the absence of the Games;
Long-standing improvements in health and well-being and reductions in crime
in the six new neighbourhoods and 3,850 affordable homes created in the
Olympic boroughs, worth as much as £130 million per annum;
Better job and earnings prospects for nearly 78,000 workers involved in the
London 2012 construction project that generate a 7.5% increase in these
workers’ lifetime earnings, worth an aggregate £504 million in current money
terms;
Reintegration into work for 3,000 formerly unemployed people, boosting their
long-term employability and raising their life time earnings by as much as
£121 million; A valuable short-term boost to consumer confidence and happiness levels.
While London is the focus of the Games, all UK regions have and will derive
benefits from this year’s Olympics:
Over 800 firms around the UK have gained contracts to work on Gamesrelated
contracts, with nearly half of these contracts going to regions outside
the south-eastern regions of the UK;
Of the £1.7 billion of additional visitor spending that hosting the games will
generate over 2005-17, nearly one third will flow into tourism-related
businesses outside the south eastern corner of the UK, with the South West
and Scotland, enjoying around the same level of additional spend as the
South East;
Each of the North West, South West and Scotland will enjoy gains of
employment in excess of the equivalent of 5,000 years of employment from
London 2012-related tourism effects, while even Northern Ireland, where the
impact is weakest will gain 850 years of employment;
Businesses in the regions and nations of the UK heavily involved in the
staging of the event itself, with 45% of LOCOG’s contractors based outside of
the three south eastern regions of the country.
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