EMPLOYMENT on the Olympic construction sites has now reached more than 12,000.

The combined workforce on the Olympic Park and Athletes’ Village is at 12,112 – likely to be the peak number with work on the permanent venues set to be completed by this summer.

Less than a quarter of the ‘big build’ workforce are residents in the five host boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest and Greenwich.

But the Olympic Delivery Authority says the construction has helped more than 1,200 previously unemployed local people to gain work on the Olympic Park and delivered 3,000 places for training people.

The ODA’s Chairman John Armitt said: “The ‘big build’ of the Olympic Park and Athletes’ Village is on track and within budget and that is testament to the commitment and skill of the contractors and workforce.

“In a challenging period for the construction industry our contractors were employing 12,000 people and meeting our targets to take on local people and apprentices. “Thousands of jobs up and down the country have also been created and protected in the supply chains delivering 2012 work.”

The ODA also published annual figures for the British citizenship and nationality of the Olympic Park and Athletes’ Village workforce. Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) are British citizens and nine out of ten (90 per cent) are EU nationals.