HR Benchmark
HR Benchmark Q4 2023
The BRC is running the HR Benchmark survey quarterly to provide retail members with market intelligence for labour planning. Full access to the report is restricted to survey participants, with summary labour market statistics available for non-participant members. For full access to the figures within future HR Benchmark reports, do participate in our upcoming survey round. 28 retailers submitted their data to the Q4 2023 benchmark. We greatly appreciate your input. This report covers 624,000 workers, 22% of retail jobs.
ONS Labour Market Statistics
Jobs 
There were 2.845 million jobs in retail in Q3 2023, a decrease of 77,000 jobs (or a decrease of 2.%) compared to a year ago and loss of 304,000 compared to Q4 2019 (-9.7%).
Vacancies 
Wholesale and retail vacancies numbered 102,000, 15.7% lower than in the period immediately preceding the pandemic and 6.4% lower on the quarter.
Redundancies 
In the three months to December, there were 11,000 redundancies in the wholesale and retail sector, 5,000 more than in the previous quarter but 5,000 fewer than in Oct-Dec 2019.
Wages 
At 8.2%, in the year to January 2024, median payroll growth in retail was above the UK average of 6.4%.
Productivity 
Retail labour productivity was 1.7% higher on Q1 2023 and 0.7% below the same time last year.
TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT PLEASE SIGN IN
Only members and associate members can access this exclusive insight.