Retail: key facts and figures

 SIZE

• The retail sector is the UK’s largest private sector employer with 2.77million employees and a £325bn turnover (2010)

 TYPE OF BUSINESS

• There are approximately 286,000 retail stores in the UK.
• 86% of these businesses employ fewer than 10 people
• 66% of retail employees work for the largest 75 retail companies

 AGE AND GENDER

• Retail’s gender profile is 58:42 women and men
• Almost a third of retail employees are under 25 years old

 ETHNICITY

• Retail employs a slightly higher proportion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds compared with the whole economy

 WORKING PATTERNS

• Half of retail employees work part-time

 OCCUPATIONS

• 50% of retail staff are employed in sales and customer service occupations
• 18% of all retail staff are managers or senior officials

 AVERAGE WAGES

• Sales assistant: £11-15k.
• Sales supervisor: £14-20k. 
• Retail manager (experienced): £21-28k.
• Retail manager (large store): £40k+

 SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

• 22% of people employed within retail have a NVQ level 2 qualification
• 38% of retail employees have a NVQ level 3, or higher, qualification
• 11% do not hold any qualifications

 FUTURE CHANGES

• The number of people employed in UK retail is forecast to increase by 6% between 2007 and 2017
• By 2017 the UK will have 3.3 million retail employees
• 214,000 retail jobs are expected to be created between 2007 and 2017,
• A further 1.2 million jobs will be needed to be filled as a result of people leaving the sector (replacement demand)

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