The positions, both full and part-time, will be created at new and existing stores across the UK and overseas.

BBC News' John Moylan reports on Tesco's expansion plans

Confirmation of the plans, which will swell the ranks of Tesco's 160,000-strong workforce over the next 12 months, came as the group reported a strong set of full-year results.

Locations for 20 new stores have been established, including sites at Hamilton, near Leicester, Neath, in Wales, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, and Towcester near Northampton.

Overseas, Tesco will open 10 more hypermarkets in central Europe and continue expansion in Asia. The company already has stores in Thailand and South Korea, but is also looking at Taiwan and Malaysia.

Ringing tills

By the end of the year 30% of Tesco's selling space will be overseas and it will have 600 stores in its expanding empire.

The group's underlying pre-tax profits rose nearly 8% to £881m - higher than City expectations. Sales grew by 4%.

Tesco has stormed ahead of its arch-rival Sainsbury's in recent months, cementing its position as Britain's favourite grocer.

Tesco recently reported a sharp 4% rise in like-for-like sales in the six weeks to January, compared to just 1.2% at Sainsbury's.

The rise in earnings could trigger a large bonus for more than 100,000 Tesco staff, who qualify for free shares under an incentive scheme.

A Tesco statement said: "The business has continued to move ahead in competitive markets both here and overseas.

BBC News' Nicola Carslaw reports on the impact of Tesco's success on its nearest rival Sainsbury's

"Our core business in the UK is strong, and our strategy to improve shopping for customers, investing in savings was made from our efficiency programmes in lower prices, continues to deliver good results. We are progressing well in Ireland, Central Europe and Asia."

The move will confirm Tesco's position as the largest private sector employer in the UK.

Growing rapidly

Tesco has continued to grow rapidly despite an intensely competitive UK food retailing market, which has been characterised by consumers holding back on their spending as the economy slows.

The improvement in its fortunes is in marked contrast to the problems encountered by Sainsbury's, which is expected to announce a radical management shake-up after its recent advertising campaign flopped.

However, Tesco and the UK's other leading supermarket chains face intense scrutiny from the UK competition authorities over the next few months amid allegations that they are charging customers too much by not passing on cost savings from suppliers.

Online groceries

The company recently launched its free Internet service, which now has 200,000 customers and is adding around 10,000 new ones every week.

Its banking service, Tesco Personal Finance, is reported to be making good progress and achieved "a slightly better than expected" £12m loss last year. The aim is to break even towards the end of this financial year.