Retail jobs hit record low, ONS data shows

The wholesale, retail and repair of motor vehicles sector lost over 61,000 payrolled employees since August 2024, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.

Alongside this, the median pay for this sector was £2084 per month in August 2025, below the UK median of £2568.

Furthermore, the median earnings in the sector grew 6.3% between August 2024 and August 2025, below the UK median of 6.6%.

Overall, the number of payrolled employees in the UK was 30.3 million, which is a fall of 0.4% from August 2024, equivalent to 127,000 fewer employees.

UK payrolled employee growth for July 2025 compared with June 2025 has been revised from a decrease of 8,000 reported in the last bulletin to a decrease of 6,000.

Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics, said: “The labour market continues to cool, with the number of people on payroll falling again, while firms also told us there were fewer jobs in the latest period. Wage growth excluding bonuses edged down further in cash terms, though it remains strong by historic standards.”

Suren Thiru, ICAEW economics director, said: “These figures suggest that the UK’s jobs market is wilting under the weight of a stagnating economy and skyrocketing staffing costs as more businesses look to shrink their workforce in response to these twin headwinds.

“The UK’s labour market is likely to encounter more adverse turbulence in the coming months as surging costs for businesses and weaker customer demand amid a slowing economy could mean the unemployment rate soon tops 5%.”

He added: “An interest rate cut on Thursday remains a non-starter as the speed at which the labour market is loosening at present won’t be enough to trigger another policy loosening, given growing anxiety over increasing inflation.”