![\"Retail](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/360815_tescostorestaffworkers2_444683.jpg\")
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More than 90,000 roles were lost from the retail sector last year, as businesses continued to battle the \u201crising tide\u201d of employment costs.<\/p>\n
There were 2.7 million people employed in the retail sector in March 2025, down from 2.8 million the previous March, a fall of 93,000, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.\u00a0The four-quarter average smooths out seasonal hiring variations.\u00a0Overall it means the total number of people employed in the sector has fallen by 364,000 since 2015.<\/p>\n
In light of the figures, which come less than a week after its own Retail Jobs Report<\/a>, the BRC urged the government<\/a> to reconsider changes to the Employments Rights Bill to ensure that flexible and part-time roles are protected, or risk shutting out generations of young people, parents and carers from the workforce.<\/p>\n The majority of roles lost during the last decade have been part-time roles, which have fallen by 246,000, while full-time roles are down 117,000, the body highlights.<\/p>\n \u201cMore jobs have been lost in retail in a decade than exist across the whole of the fishing<\/a>, car manufacture and steel-making industries combined,\u201d said BRC CEO Helen Dickinson. \u201cAnd while factory closures have quickly been met by promises of action, this wave of retail jobs losses appears to go unnoticed by government.\u201d<\/p>\n Retail bosses including Next\u2019s Simon Wolfson and Fortnum & Mason\u2019s Tom Athron have warned that April\u2019s increases to employers\u2019 National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage will have a disproportional impact on part-time roles, limiting opportunities in the sector.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cost of employing people for full-time entry-level roles has risen by 10%, while the cost for part-time roles has increased by a massive 13%,\u201d Dickinson said.<\/p>\n