By guest author Sahar Nazir from Retail Gazette
- 18,722 roles have been made redundant since Christmas
- 400 jobs a day have been lost
The UK’s high streets has seen almost 20000 jobs lost or put at risk since the Christmas period, as retailers struggle with rising costs and dwindling consumer confidence
According to real estate data service Altus, 18722 roles have been made redundant or put under threat since Christmas.
A total of 14,377 jobs have been lost and a further 4345 remain at risk, amounting to 400 jobs a day.
Meanwhile, Tesco and Marks & Spencer have announced thousands of job losses.
Retailers have been at war with online shopping, rent costs, and low consumer confidence, while uncertainty around Brexit is causing a stir in the high street.
“It remains tough for high street businesses right now whilst Brexit uncertainty is also hurting both manufacturers and the services industries,” Altus head of UK business rates Robert Hayton said.
“During the last decade, revenue from business rates has risen by 32 % in England, up GBP 6.04 billion to GBP 24.76 billion for the current year.”
These figures follow on from a turbulent 2018, as retailers axed almost 150000 jobs and a number of shops shut down.
Poundworld, Toys R Us and Maplin all went into administration, while other struggling retailers such as Mothercare, Carpetright, New Look and Homebase used CVAs to close stores.