RETAIL ‘TO LOSE 900,000 JOBS’
Retail, one of the UK’s biggest employers, could suffer a potential shrinkage of 900,000 jobs over the next few years.
A British Retail Consortium report says rising costs due to the National Living Wage and the new apprenticeship levy could speed up job cuts.
Says SRC Director DAVID LONSDALE, “Scotland’s retail industry is undergoing seismic change driven by changes in shopping habits, new technology, stiff competition, falling prices and burgeoning regulatory costs.
“Jobs in retail will in future be higher skilled, more productive and better paid, but that there will be fewer of them. That process appears to be already underway with official data showing a drop of 3,500 retail jobs in Scotland over the past year. The number of stores in Scotland is also forecast to drop further.”
