Eurovision jobcentres are to open across the Liverpool City Region (LCR) as part of efforts to fill more than 5,000 roles expected to be created by the massive event.
The song contest will be taking place in Liverpool in May after the city won the competition to host the show following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The competition would have traditionally taken place in Ukraine as the previous year’s winners were it not for the ongoing war. Suzanne Mallon, of Jobcentre Plus Merseyside, told the ECHO all the LCR’s six districts of Liverpool, Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, Wirral and St Helens, will have a “pop-up” Eurovision jobcentre for anyone looking to work in the run-up to the event or during the “three week Eurovision events period”.
Liverpool will have a Eurovision jobcentre in the city centre, and two Eurovision jobs fairs will also be taking place. The ECHO previously reported how recruitment had started earlier in December, with Liverpool City Council advertising to find the right candidates for roles including community arts funding officer, producer, and project support assistant.
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Ms Mallon said: “Alongside bringing employers and customers together Merseyside Jobcentres are busy right now preparing for the year ahead and in particular Eurovision and the extra 5,000-plus jobs the event will bring across the Liverpool City Region.
“We are already working very closely with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority ’s employment and skills leads alongside hospitality and retail employers to meet their needs.
“In readiness for Eurovision we have already secured two large city centre venues for Eurovision jobs fairs in February and March 2023.
“Jobcentres will also be providing pop-up Eurovision Jobcentres in each of our six local authority areas as well as a great city centre based Eurovision pop-up Jobcentre to fill the many vacancies and opportunities available in the run up to and throughout the three week Eurovision events period during May.“
Details of the Eurovision recruitment programme were released as Jobcentre Plus, part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) provided a round-up of recruitment activity in the LCR.
Other initiatives have included recent jobs fairs in December where there was “no shortage” of vacancies and “many” of those attending being offered a role on the day.
Also during December, Jobcentre Plus linked up with Carlisle Security to develop a door supervisor and security guard work programme (SWAP), with 100 candidates applying and 30 starting on the programme.
Carlisle will also be recruiting for Eurovision vacancies, having secured the arena contract for May 2023.
In another scheme, Merseyside employment advisers and managers teamed up with Stagecoach to support anyone homeless or at risk of losing their home into bus driver and cleaner roles to prevent them ending up homeless and to provide some financial stability.
Ms Mallon said the team had an “extremely busy year”, working with employers from John Moores University, Safestyle UK and Next, to the Army and Navy plus the NHS and in local government.
The number of people claiming Universal Credit in the LCR fell during the year, with the highest drop of 21% in Sefton, the lowest of 13% in Halton, and the other city region boroughs in between, averaging around 17%.
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