New GMB analysis: more than 420,000 UK bricks and mortar retail jobs lost since 2010
New GMB analysis shows that 420,242 bricks and mortar UK retail jobs have gone - a decline of 28.4% - since the Conservatives took power in 2010.
The figures emerge as the last Wilko stores close their doors for the final time, costing 12,500 workers their jobs after the chain collapsed.
The GMB union looked at ONS Labour Force Survey data April-June 2010 and April-June 2023 (the latest quarter for which figures are available).
Bricks and mortar retail jobs were taken as sales and retail assistants and retail cashiers and check-out operators, and did not cover retail distribution roles.
GMB will today tell the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool that more retail jobs will be lost unless economic reforms are made.
Delegates are due to debate a motion by the union which calls for the UK’s ‘archaic’ system of business rates to be replaced, alongside better protections for workers who are made redundant.
It also wants tougher sentences when retail workers experience violence and other abuse.
Andy Prendergast, GMB National Secretary, says: “High street retail is at the heart of our communities, but customers and workers are denied a fair deal. These shocking figures are a wakeup call that Wilko was not the first, and it will not be the last.”
He adds: “Better support for communities and workers who face redundancy is urgently needed.”
“That’s why we are calling on the Labour Party to enact its pledge to replace the business rates system, strengthen redundancy rights, and establish minimum ownership requirements for critical national retailers. Otherwise, the high street faces terminal decline.”
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