JCB creates new jobs at its UK factories

Heavy machinery giant JCB has launched a fresh recruitment drive for hundreds of shop floor workers and announced plans to give more agency employees permanent contracts.

The company said last month it was hiring more than 400 shop floor agency employees and giving permanent JCB contracts from April 1 to more than 300 existing agency employees.

JCB announced on Wednesday it was recruiting a further 450 agency shop floor workers at its factories in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham, and later this year will give an additional 400 agency shop floor employees with more than one year’s service permanent contracts.

These will include assemblers, welders, fabricators and machinists.

The company said demand for construction equipment continued to “soar”.

JCB chief operating officer Mark Turner said: “The rebound following the Covid-19 pandemic continues to gather pace and even in the space of a month since we started recruiting, we now need a further 450 shop floor employees.

“The creation of a total of 850 jobs this year is very good news for our business and for the areas where we operate.”

JCB said the market for construction equipment has rebounded sharply after the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, which halted production at its factories around the world.

JCB said its orders “disappeared overnight” when the pandemic took hold a year ago, and it took more than six months for the business to recover, but forecasts predict a continued solid recovery, with strong demand from mainland Europe and North America.