Retail hiring falls 20%

Hiring in the UK’s retail sector was down 19.7% in October compared to the same month last year, according to Linkedin’s ‘Workforce Report’ for December 2020.

Nationally, across every industry, hiring in the UK was 10.2% lower than in October 2019, but hiring across the country was 5.8% higher in October than September 2020.

Among the industries which had the most notable hiring shifts month-to-month in October were roles in legal (42.2% higher); media and communications (41.3% higher); and finance (23.6% higher).

Jobs in transport and healthcare were the only professions to see a year-on-year hiring increase at 14% and 20%, respectively.

Josh Graff, UK country manager at LinkedIn, said: “The pandemic has accelerated the shift to online shopping and in-store staff are paying the highest price.

“We know that people in the retail sector are passionate about their work and have highly transferable skills, specifically in customer service and experience.”

He added: “Forward thinking companies will look past candidates’ current employment status and instead focus on their skill set, related previous experience and overall potential when making hiring decisions.”