Almost 190,000 UK retail jobs lost since first Covid lockdown - according to new figures

By Helen Johnson
Published 3rd Apr 2021, 12:45 GMT
Almost 190,000 retail jobs have been lost since shops first closed their doors last year due to the Covid pandemic (Photo: Shutterstock)Almost 190,000 retail jobs have been lost since shops first closed their doors last year due to the Covid pandemic (Photo: Shutterstock)
Almost 190,000 retail jobs have been lost since shops first closed their doors last year due to the Covid pandemic (Photo: Shutterstock)

Almost 190,000 retail jobs have been lost since shops first closed their doors last year due to the Covid pandemic, new figures have revealed.

The Centre for Retail Research revealed in exclusive data for the PA news agency that 188,685 retail jobs have gone between the start of the first lockdown on 23 March 2020 and 31 March this year.

Jobs lost due to administrations, restructuring processes and rationalisation programmes

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The retail sector has been hit hard by the pandemic, with stores having to temporarily close during lockdowns across the UK.

Some stores have also felt the full impact of closures, and are having to shut their doors for good.

The figures showed that 83,725 jobs lost in the time period were due to administrations, including the collapse of department chain store Debenhams, and Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group.

Around 11,986 jobs were cut during Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) restructuring processes and another 92,974 jobs were lost through rationalisation programmes, including chain supermarkets Sainsbury’s and Asda axing thousands of roles.

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