Retailers cut 70,000 jobs in 2018 as high street crisis worsens

Christmas failed to deliver a boost for shops and more frontline staff predicted to be cut over next decade, say experts

Around 70,000 jobs were lost in the retail industry last year as the decline of the UK’s high streets continued.

The sector employed 2.2 per cent less people in the final three months of 2018 than it did a year before, new research found.

Christmas failed to slow down the job losses, and the number of “frontline staff” will continue to fall over the next decade, The British Retail Consortium predicted.

John Lewis this week announced the premanent closure of one of it department stores while the owner of Cotswold Outdoor is drawing up plans for a wave of cuts.

Patisserie Valerie became the latest high street name to collapse into administration after it failed to recover from the fallout of an accounting signal

The BRC's latest figures gave little to encourage retailers facing some of the toughest trading conditions in living memory.

The total number of hours worked in retail fell even further, with a 2.8 per cent annual reduction. Both full-time and part-time workers saw their hours reduced, although the decline has slowed over the past year.

The data highlighted “profound” changes to the retail industry which will destroy jobs, but also create new ones, the BRC said.

Less than a third of companies said they planned to lay off more staff in the first three months of 2019 and a greater proportion said they would look to take on new employees.

The BRC pointed to Artificial Intelligence and digital marketing as areas for future job growth as technology changes the way people shop.

“This transformation comes at a cost for retailers, who are already weighed down by the increasing costs of public policy, from sky high business rates to rising minimum wage,” said Helen Dickinson, the BRC’s chief executive.

“To support this investment in the future of retail, Government needs to play its part, reforming the broken business rates system to ensure it is fit for the 21st century.”

The high street suffered its worst December on record as a last-minute surge in trading and discounting failed to save embattled retailers, according to accountancy firm BDO.

Sales dropped 1.9 per cent year-on-year, the sixth successive December to record negative sales growth.