According to Stephen Menko, managing director of HR recruiter Ortus, the World Cup would have created thousands of jobs and kept UK HR professionals busy expanding workforces in hospitality, leisure, retail and marketing.
"This is a tragedy for the UK’s jobs market," Menko said, pointing to the financial gains countries have secured from hosting world sporting events.
According to Menko the economic impact of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics on Southern California was $2.3bn and supported 73,375 jobs. The Seoul Olympics in 1988 generated an economic impact of $1.6bn with 336,000 new jobs. Barcelona in 1992 generated $30m with 296,640 new jobs. Atlanta in 1996 produced an economic impact of $5.1bn with 77,026 jobs created. Sydney in 2000 generated an economic benefit of $4.7bn with 114,966 jobs created.
"The most successful Olympic Games to date was Athens in 2004, which produced an average economic impact of $13.05bn with 372,700 new jobs. But it’s not just the Olympics – the UEFA Champions League Final alone earned Rome more than €45m from hosting the 2009 Final," Menko said.
"If we’d have won the bid, the World Cup would have created an employment bonanza. Now we can kiss that adrenaline shot to the jobs market goodbye."
