Star date: 16th January 2012

ONLY 1% OF MANCS AND SALFORDIANS WHO APPLIED TO BBC SALFORD GOT JOBS

`You were twice as likely to get a job at BBC Salford if you were from London'

Out of 15,238 people from Manchester and Salford who applied for jobs at the BBC's new base at MediaCityUK, 154 got jobs, which is only 1%.

The figures are revealed today by The Guardian newspaper's Northerner Blog following a Freedom of Information request. The Northerner also reveals that, proportionately, people from London who applied to the BBC were more likely to be taken on than those from Manchester or Salford.

Update 17th Jan: The MEN today reveals that only 16 people from Salford got a full time job at the BBC. 

Full details here…

It's really confusing but, following a Freedom of Information request by The Guardian's Northerner Blog, the first official details of jobs at the BBC's new base at Salford's MediaCityUK have been revealed today.

Overall, nationally, 66,657 registered at the BBC's online jobs bank for a total of 238 vacancies. And 529 people got jobs - but that includes externally advertised vacancies as well as the online jobs bank. The figures are all mixed up.

However, out of 15,238 people who applied from the Manchester postcode, which includes Salford, only 154 got jobs, which is 1.01%. Meanwhile, 209 people from the London postcodes who applied got jobs at Salford, a figure of 2.29%. In other words, you were twice as likely to get a job at BBC Salford if you were from London. These figures exclude people already working for the BBC who got relocated from Oxford Road and London.

The BBC didn't provide any figures for those people from Salford who applied and got jobs at the BBC. The Salford Star is intending to put another Freedom of Information request into the BBC asking for this information * 

Whatever the outcome, the initial jobs figures seem to fly in the face of original official statements stating that thousands of new jobs will be created at MediaCityUK. The Learning and Skills Council, for instance, stated that "the move of the BBC to Salford Quays, and the mediacity:uk developments are estimated to bring 15,000 new jobs to the city…"

With the biggest tenant, the BBC, now in place a mere 529 new jobs have been created, with only 154 of those jobs shared between both Manchester and Salford people….

…That's not many jobs for the millions of pounds of public money being pumped into both the BBC and MediaCityUK. In a few months, for example, Salford Council will be writing out a cheque for £3million to the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra as this year's instalment of its £20million sponsorship - at a time when elderly people's day care centres and welfare rights services in the city are having Council funding withdrawn…

* UPDATE 17th January -The Manchester Evening News have beat us to it and today show that only 24 people from Salford got jobs at the BBC - and of those 24, eight were on six month ambassador contracts on £3.64 and £4.92 an hour (see here). In other words, only 16 people from Salford actually got a real job at the BBC. See here

For the full details of the BBC jobs see today's Guardian Northerner Blog – click here

Also see Guardian journalist Sarah Hartley's blog for the original data – click here…

And see the original Salford Star article on the Media City Jobs Hype – click here… and here

UPDATE 17th January - Salford BBC Jobs Cost Over £200,000 Each! - click here

UPDATE 18th January - How The Public Paid For Peel Holdings MediaCityUK - click here