News

UK retail sector shows job growth

October 25, 2012

The British Retail Consortium announced today that retail employment rose by 2.9 percent in the third quarter of 2012 compared with the year prior, marking the fastest growth in two years for the U.K.

According to an article on freshbusinessthinking.com, news of the 20,533 additional full-time jobs comes on the same day that the Office for National Statistics announced that the economy grew by 1 percent for the three months ending in September. However, the job increase was driven particularly by the grocery sector rather than apparel, the article reported. 

"The strongest retail jobs growth for two years looks like another reason for optimism. With good news about employment generally, signs that disposable incomes, consumer spending and inflation are moving in the right direction and expectations that we're about to see GDP growth return to positive territory, there's a sense that things could be getting better. That offers hope as the crucial Christmas trading period gathers pace," said Stephen Robertson, British Retail Consortium director general. 

"But it's important not to get too carried away. Our headline figures hide wide variations in retail performance. All the growth in jobs and shop numbers is coming from the food sector. In non-food retailing, employment is flat and shops are closing down," he said.

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