High street employment set to rise

MORE than 12,000 jobs were created in the retail sector between July and September in the strongest evidence yet that the high street has shrugged off the downturn.

Retail full-time employment jumped 2.1 per cent compared with the same quarter a year ago driven by a 4.2 per cent rise in the number of stores, a survey jointly run by the British Retail Consortium and commercial lawyers Bond Pearce says in a report published today.

The jobs rise in the sector, which faces a rise in VAT to 20 per cent in January, equates to 12,746 additional retail posts and more than 650 new stores, the BRC/Bond Pearce Retail Employment Monitor said.

Stephen Robertson, the BRC's director general, said the latest evidence showed the retail sector was "the engine room of economic recovery".

Robertson said it was an impressive performance on the jobs front, the tenth consecutive month of retail employment growth despite tough economic conditions.

He said: "At a time of economic uncertainty, and with half a million public jobs due to be lost by 2014, this is up-to-the-minute evidence that retailers are continuing to invest in new premises and people."

The survey said 61 per cent of retailers canvassed intended to boost staffing levels.