The bad press about the BBC’s MediaCity base in Salford will just not go away. Today it has been revealed that out of 680 new jobs, only 26 of them went to people from Salford. That’s less than 5%. Oh dear.
Local Labour MP Hazel Blears said:
The BBC needs to up its game and start to employ local people for local jobs.
Ken Lee, human resources director for BBC North, said:
We believe that this is a promising start. The BBC has recruited from across the north of England based on skills and experience, not by postcode.
In semi-related news, new unemployment benefit claimant figures show that the amount of claimants in the Salford and Eccles constiuency has gone up by 14.8%.
Of course I am being slightly unfair to Ken Lee. It’s not a bad thing to recruit based on skills and experience but it does raise an interesting question: is it a responsibility for the BBC to stimulate the local economy by recruiting people from the area or not?
