Realising retail’s employment potential

Despite one in 10 UK jobs being in retail a clear picture of employment in the sector has always been hard to see.

To combat this, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has launched the Retail Employment Monitor which it hopes will help to illustrate the changing nature of employment within the sector as well as indicate retail job prospects.

The BRC-Bond Pearce Retail Employment Monitor gathers data from a variety of retailers, which between them employ more than a million people and are responsible for half of the UK’s retail turnover. It has taken two years to develop; and shows that, despite the recession, the sector has consistently created net jobs month-on-month over the past year (see graph).

The bigger picture The BRC believes the new measure will be vital to inform Government policy making and fills a gap in the economic indicators available for assessing the progress of recovery in the UK.

BRC director-general Stephen Robertson says that because retail is the biggest private sector employer and jobs are spread across the nation, an accurate picture of employment is vital and could help to boost the image of the sector as an employer generally. “We want to show that a job in retail is a good career to go into and that it is a professional and resilient environment,” he says.

The first monitor shows that in the second quarter of 2010, 22,055 jobs were created since the same period last year, up 3.6%.

“Retail employment has been reasonably resilient and overall retailers have been adding jobs, which shows they are investing in their future and the sector is a driver of recovery,” says Robertson.

The Retail Employment Monitor also includes an indicator of retailers’ employment intentions for the following quarter and shows in the second quarter of 2010 that 33% of retailers intended to increase their employee levels in the third quarter compared with the second quarter of 2009 when 29% planned to do so. “There is a gentle improvement in terms of the confidence of retailers adding jobs,” says Robertson.

The big question is whether the Government will listen to the survey’s findings. “I’m sure they will and I think they will welcome this new measure,” says Robertson.