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Retail businesses started in 2020 are set to create thousands of jobs in the coming years, as one-in-four retail business owners plan to hire one or more employees, according to new research by The Accountancy Partnership.
It found that a quarter of commerce entrepreneurs who started a business during the pandemic said they will be hiring one or more employees as their business grows in the coming months and years, creating an influx of new employment opportunities.
According to the group, the retail sector is “leading the way” for job creation with start-ups in the sector projected to spearhead the recovery as non-essential retail opens.
Although many lockdown-born businesses were created out of necessity following pandemic hardships such as furlough and redundancies, research from The Accountancy Partnership’s ‘The Boom or Bust: Beginning a business in a pandemic’ report indicates that the majority of entrepreneurs have long-term growth plans for their businesses.
More than seven in 10 (71%) retail business owners want to continually grow their businesses revenue and almost half (46%) want their business to become their sole source of income.
In addition, ONS data shows that the UK’s small and medium-sized businesses created three times more jobs than businesses with more than 250 employees in the years from 2013 to 2017, “underlining just how central SMEs are to the health of the country’s economy”.
Lee Murphy, managing director of The Accountancy Partnership, said: “Small businesses truly are the foundations of the British economy and seeing so many businesses started during lockdown, often out of necessity, with long term growth and hiring plans is fantastic.
“Almost half (46%) of lockdown-preneurs have always wanted to start their own businesses and with so many passionate people behind these ventures I am optimistic that we will see some excellent businesses supporting the wider business economy in the coming years.”
He added: “The opportunities that pandemic-born businesses are set to create in the coming years will be crucial to Covid-recovery. The wave of new businesses in retail is especially exciting as those industries have really suffered over the last year, and an influx of jobs will be welcome and needed as restrictions continue to ease.”
