JCB creates 20 new jobs in Wrexham after 'sharp' market rebound

JCB plans to recruit 400 new UK shop floor employees as production surges

Twenty new shop floor jobs will be created in Wrexham, as digger maker JCB gears up for a surge in production.

The company said the market for construction equipment had "rebounded sharply" after Covid halted production at factories in spring 2020.

It plans to recruit more than 400 shop floor jobs UK-wide, including assembly, welding and fork lift truck drivers.

JCB chief operating officer Mark Turner said: "After a tumultuous 12 months, this really is good news."

• Up to 950 JCB jobs at risk as 'demand halves' since Covid

• JCB set to help with ventilator production

He said orders in March last year "dramatically disappeared overnight" and "many staff positions were impacted" when the pandemic spread across the world.

"It took more than six months for the business to recover to production levels we last saw in March 2020."

Mr Turner said 2021 had "started strongly" and the company forecast a "continued solid recovery, with strong demand from mainland Europe and north America".