The number of advertised jobs in retail has almost halved in the last year as companies continue to buckle down on costs.
Job vacancies have fallen 42.25 per cent in the last year, the most significant drop in any UK sector, according to Adzuna’s latest jobs report.
There has been a contraction in retail for some time – the retail sector lost 225,000 jobs between 2019 and 2025, according to the ONS.
The Retail Jobs Alliance warned in January that a further 300,000 retail jobs could disappear in the next three years due to rising costs and regulation.
Companies are increasingly turning to automation as a replacement for employment. The growing power and cheaper relative cost of tech have made it a more commercially viable option to deal with cost pressures.
This is especially true as retailers deal face rising tax bills: M&S boss Stuart Machin has said retailers are being treated like a “piggy bank” as they face an effective tax rate of 55 per cent when business rates and employment taxes are factored in.
Consumers spending habits are also changing, with Brits turning to experiences like meals out, city breaks, gym memberships and subscriptions to TV Channels instead of in-store shopping.
Footfall remains below pre-pandemic levels, leading to shops struggling with a lack of in-store customers.
Are retail job losses set to accelerate?
Adzuna’s figures follow months of warnings that Labour’s inaugural Budget will lead to wide-ranging job cuts as firms accelerate their push to automation to avoid significantly higher wage costs.
Last Autumn, a group of Britain’s biggest supermarkets and retail chains – including Tesco, M&S, Boots and B&Q – wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves warning that further job losses and price rises were “inevitable”.
The Budget will increase the cost of full-time employment by at least £2,500 per person due to changes to employers’ national insurance contributions and the minimum wage, according to UKHospitality.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said the cost increase was “eye-watering” and “far beyond what anyone’s worst case scenario was”.
“Hospitality venues will now have to ditch their ambitions to employ more people and do the very opposite – cut hours, scale back recruitment, and, in extreme circumstances, let people go,” Nicholls added.