Record fall in retail employment as jobs and hours cut

Hours worked in the industry and the number of employees both fell over the period, according to the BRC Retail Employment Monitor.

“The challenge for retailers will be in maintaining the pace of productivity improvement as they come up against shortages of the skills needed for a new, digital-dependent industry”

Helen Dickinson, BRC

The figures represented the sharpest year-on-year drop in hours and employment since the monitor was launched in 2008.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said that a combination of technological change, which is reducing demand for labour, and Government policy, which is pushing up the cost of employment, were behind the reduction in employment.

She said: “With both supply and demand pushing in the same direction, it’s little surprise that we’re seeing fewer people working in the industry.”

“However, along with falling employment has come pay growth well in excess of the UK average, made possible by productivity gains that have outstripped those of other industries.

“The challenge for retailers will be in maintaining the pace of productivity improvement as they come up against shortages of the skills needed for a new, digital-dependent industry.”

In the fourth quarter, the peak trading period for retailers, employment levels are expected to tick up again. Half of retailers were intending to increase employment then.