Jobs in shops have been a starting point for young people for decades, while parents can also find them to be a flexible option around childcare commitments.
But more than 360,000 retail jobs have been lost in Britain in just a decade – including nearly 100,000 in the past year, as the death of the high street accelerates.
Some 2.76million jobs existed in the UK retail sector in March this year, according to Office for National Statistics data compiled by the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
The 'four-quarter average', which smooths out seasonal variations, was 2.80million, which is 93,000 down on the same point last year, and a fall of 364,000 on 2015.
The total is split into 1.3million full-time jobs – which are down 117,000 on a decade ago; and 1.5million part-time jobs, a drop of 246,000 over the same period.
