4 days ago
Death of the high street job: More than 360,000 retail positions are lost in just a decade - with another 160,000 roles at risk over next three years
Jobs in shops have been a starting point for young people for decades, while parents can also find them to be a flexible option around childcare commitments.
But more than 360,000 retail jobs have been lost in Britain in just a decade – including nearly 100,000 in the past year, as the death of the high street accelerates.
Some 2.76million jobs existed in the UK retail sector in March this year, according to Office for National Statistics data compiled by the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
The 'four-quarter average', which smooths out seasonal variations, was 2.80million, which is 93,000 down on the same point last year, and a fall of 364,000 on 2015.
The total is split into 1.3million full-time jobs – which are down 117,000 on a decade ago; and 1.5million part-time jobs, a drop of 246,000 over the same period.
Firms have faced a hike in national insurance contributions since April, which had been announced in October's Budget, as well as a rise in the minimum wage.
The BRC has said these changes will cost retailers £5billion in 2025/26, and it also fears 160,000 more part-time roles could be lost over the next three years.
The industry group's chief executive Helen Dickinson said: 'Retail jobs have continued to fall, with 364,000 fewer jobs than ten years ago.
'More jobs have been lost in retail in a decade than exist across the whole of the fishing, car manufacture and steel-making industries combined.
'And while factory closures have quickly been met by promises of action, this wave of retail jobs losses appears to go unnoticed by government.'
She added that the cost of employing people for full-time entry-level roles has risen by 10 per cent, while the cost for part-time roles is up by 13 per cent.
Ms Dickinson continued: 'This matters - retail jobs are a vital part of the local economy right across the country.
'From young people taking their first step into the world of work, to parents and carers returning to the workforce around other commitments, retail has flexible and local roles for everyone.
'When we take retail jobs away, we do a disservice to the local communities that rely on them.'
The data comes against the backdrop of the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales in a year passing half a million for the first time.
ONS figures released in April showed a total of 516,971 offences were logged by forces in 2024, up 20 per cent from 429,873 in 2023. The figure was the highest since current police recording practices began in the year to March 2003.
Separate data today from the ONS showed Britain's jobless rate has surged to its highest level for nearly four years and pay growth for UK workers eased by more than expected as employers faced surging staff costs.
Average regular earnings, excluding bonuses, fell sharply to 5.2 per cent in the three months to April, from a revised 5.5 per cent in the previous three months and the lowest since the third quarter of last year.
While this is still outstripping inflation, up by 2.1 per cent with Consumer Prices Index inflation taken into account, it was lower than predicted, with most experts pencilling in a fall to 5.3 per cent.
The rate of unemployment also jumped to 4.6 per cent in the three months to April, up from 4.5 per cent in the three months to March and the highest level since the three months to July 2021, although the ONS continues caution over the reliability of the statistic.
It coincided with firms facing a hike in national insurance contributions in April, which had been announced in October's budget, as well as a rise in the minimum wage.
The figures also showed vacancies tumbled by 63,000 to 736,000 in the three months to May - the lowest since April 2021 - while payroll data revealed the biggest drop for five years last month, down 109,000 to 30.2million.
This followed a revised 55,000 drop in payrolled workers between March and April.
Also today, the separate BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor showed consumers slowed their spending to the lowest growth of the year in May amid falling confidence.
It said sales of fashion and full-price big ticket items were held back by faltering consumer confidence, although gaming bucked the trend due to popular new releases.
Total retail sales across the UK were up by 1 per cent year-on-year in May, against growth of 0.7 per cent a year ago, driven by food sales increasing by 3.6 per cent on the back of football tournaments and two bank holidays, prompting spending on BBQs and picnics. Non-food sales were down 1.1 per cent year-on-year in May.
Last year more than 13,000 high street stores were shut for good, according to figures released by the Centre for Retail Research in January.
UK retail store closures jumped by 28 per cent on the previous year – with 13,479 stores, the equivalent of 37 each day, closing doors for good over the calendar year.
The vast majority of closures were small independent retailers with 11,341 shutting during the year, a 45.5 per cent rise against the previous year.
Meanwhile, 2,138 stores were shut by larger chains over the year.
The Centre for Retail Research also said at the time that it expected around 17,350 store closures during 2025 with about 14,660 coming from independent retailers.
