Almost 1,200 jobs are being created in Wales by the supermarket giant Tesco.

The company has announced that is to recrut 300 permanent and 850 seasonal Christmas workers.

The firm said the increasing demand for all-night shopping has played a part in the recruitment drive, which will target the over-50s, students and parents.

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Across the UK, the retailer will be taking on 17,000 employees before Christmas.

Tesco said it will need almost 1,200 more staff in Wales to cope with the extra trade it is expecting for the festive season.

On average, each store will have seven new people to bolster the 24-hour operation to keep stores stocked and shelves full.

The jobs involve both serving customers and behind-the-scenes work and will cover all areas of the store including checkouts, bag-packing, customer service, stock replenishment and Tesco.com.

Tesco Retail Director, David Potts, said: "Our stores are busier than ever before and we want to make sure that our customers get the best possible service.

Private employer

"So we're putting record numbers of people on the shop floor to help customers in the run-up to Christmas and beyond.

"Christmas is a busy time of year for customers and these extra staff will ensure that we can make it as easy for them as possible.

"We are looking for hard-working and dedicated people who enjoy working in a busy environment and dealing with customers."

Tesco is already the UK's largest private employer with more than 200,000 employees.

But it faces competing with other high street chain for seasonal workers in the run-up to Christmas.

The chain controls an estimated 16% of the British grocery market, chalking up total annual sales of about �24bn ($33bn).