According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the leading industry association for the country’s largest retailers, 61% of finance executives plan to reduce staff hours or cut overtime. Another 45% intend to freeze hiring of new employees. More than half expect to cut back on administrative staff, and about 42% expect to cut back on in-store workers.
The reason is skyrocketing labor costs and weak consumer demand. As Reuters notes, retailers’ employee costs have risen by around £5 billion in 2025 due to employer National Insurance increases and rising minimum wage rates. This has led to the cost of hiring a full-time, full-time young employee rising by more than 10%.
Salespeople will be replaced by technology
Theeconomiccrisis is also adding pressure to the industry. According to BRC, the retail sector has lost about 250,000 jobs over the past five years, and about 74,000 jobs last year alone, partly due to automation and weak consumer demand.
In this environment, many companies are looking at investing in automation and digital tools as a way to increase efficiency to compensate for shrinking human resources.
This is particularly worrying for younger workers: the retail sector has traditionally been an important source of entry-level and part-time jobs. But cuts and hiring freezes can narrow opportunities for students and interns.
