RECRUITMENT has begun to fill hundreds of new job vacancies at JCB.

Today, the company started a fresh recruitment drive for 500 new shop floor employees as demand for its machinery continues to soar.

A spokesman said the Wrexham plant would be impacted by the announcement, but it was not know yet how the new positions would be divided among its 11 plants.

The company is taking on additional agency employees at its plants in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham – on top of the 850 shop floor jobs already created so far this year.

JCB is also offering an additional 300 agency employees permanent JCB contracts – which will bring the total number of agency shop floor employees given permanent jobs this year to 1,000.

The moves follow record demand for JCB’s construction and agricultural products, with most new machines already sold out until next year.

Pay for shop floor roles has also risen once already this year to £11.35 an hour.

JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald said today. “The recovery continues to gather momentum and we have tens of thousands of new machine orders sitting on our books stretching well into next year. We have never seen anything like this in the 75-year history of JCB. As well as earning a competitive salary with the opportunity for overtime and enhanced shift allowances, there is great potential for new recruits to progress to permanent roles with JCB.”

Earlier this year, 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.

To apply for the jobs visit https://jobs.guidantglobal.com/clients/jcb or text JCB to 82228.