Tesco announces it's creating 20,000 jobs over the next two years. Apparently this is supposed to be welcomed, and we are supposed to applaud Tesco for its endeavours. I for one am struggling with this whole concept, and what benefit there is to the economy at all.
As things stand, people are not going hungry and crawling in the streets, desperate to try and find a Tesco supermarket, or any other type of supermarket. They do not die en route, and utter final words of "If only there were a more local hypermarket". I therefore conclude that whatever money that's available for people to spend will be spent, and the proximity of a Tesco store is not a determining factor in the success of anyone trying to spend money, or avoid death by either hunger or lack of a Technika television. Therefore, the arrival of a new Tesco creates absolutely nothing. Rather, it concentrates and consolidates spending and gives a focal point for people to converge. This is at the expense of other retailers and locations. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction - something once stated by a rather clever bloke.
Twenty thousand jobs then, a mixture of permanent and apprenticeship roles, both full time and part-time. Breaking this down, that probably means about 5,000 proper full-time jobs maximum. The rest is all scraps that give people four hours a day on two or three days of the week, spread all over the fucking shop (not literally) and some mystical apprenticeship stuff. When we come to measure everything, there will have been 75% of all this created. Meanwhile, local shops will have been boarded up, landlords will lose money, jobs will be lost along with any hope of diversity in the retail world. Supply chains will be weakened and other retailers will feel the knock-on effects. Suppliers will either put up prices as outlets close, so that those remaining get a worse deal or are even told it's not worth supplying them anymore. Supermarkets will have become even more dominant, and ironically, they will have buying power that means the suppliers are actually screwed on price even more.
Supermarkets are in fact similar strains of a virus. There are many films in the genre of 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', and it's always a case that a few hangers-on try to evade the plague / vampires / zombies / aliens / disease / Supermarkets.
The country is no netter off for more Tesco stores. There is only one winner - Tesco. We somehow fool ourselves that jobs are being created; they are actually being shuffled. Selling more 'stuff' creates nothing. What a farce.
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