Around 180 jobs are being created in Staffordshire in a recruitment drive by fast food giant McDonald’s.

Some 30 per cent of the posts will be aimed at first-time workers as part of an initiative to help school leavers get a foothold on the jobs market and reduce youth unemployment.

Up to 70 of the jobs will be created at a drive-through restaurant also seating 85 diners to be built near Rugeley town centre.

Cannock Chase Council leader George Adamson said: “This is excellent news, particularly as McDonald’s have assured us that the jobs will go to local people.”

The Staffordshire jobs are among 2,500 being created nationally by the American restaurant chain, taking its UK workforce to 90,000.

Meanwhile, Sandwich chain Subway has announced it is to create 6,000 jobs over the next three years.

The franchise – famed for its foot-long submarine rolls – will open 600 new branches in the UK and Ireland by 2015, it said today.