Retail jobs decline in Q4 as retailers adjust to industry changes

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jan 26, 2017

Despite being the busiest time for retailers, the number of full-time retail jobs declined by 3% in the fourth quarter of 2016, announced the British Retail Consortium on Thursday.

The decrease was driven by food retailers, as companies scaled back to adjust to big structural changes in the industry.

“In the last quarter, seasonal overtime was scaled back much more than in previous years, reflecting the relative fall in importance of Boxing Day relative to pre-Christmas spend and Black Friday. We also saw some retailers reduce temporary seasonal staffing levels earlier than in previous years,” said BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson.

“Against the backdrop of cost pressures, fierce competition between retailers, evolving customer needs, and the lightning expansion of digital technology, many retailers are likely to continue re-examining staffing levels to continue adapting,” she added.

2017 is likely to be a challenging year for UK retailers as impending increases in the national living wage and business rates come into effect in April.

The national living wage is set to increase by 30p an hour to £7.50 for all workers aged 25 and over. This represents a 4.2% increase on the current national living wage, which was also increased by 50p in the previous year.

Additionally, retailers are facing the biggest business rates change in years. The first revaluation since 2010 is expected to affect London and south east retailers severely with the amount retailers pay in business rates increasing by up to 87% in Central London.

Britain’s retailers are also struggling with economic uncertainty and volatile currency movements.