Retail pay growth has accelerated faster than the UK overall, with retail pay packets up 5.7% compared to last year, says the British Retail Consortium.

Responding to the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), Kyle Monk, head of retail insight and analytics at the BRC, said: “This is in line with what we have seen in previous years, where the retail industry pay growth has outstripped the rest of the UK. In recent years retail has also closed the gap with UK average pay, climbing from 65% in 2014 to 70% in 2019.

“Retail is in the midst of a transformation. While the number of the retail jobs has fallen in recent years, there has been a rise in better paid, high-skill roles such as in digital marketing, AI, and data science,” Monk continued. “This has helped contribute to retail productivity outpacing other industries in recent years.

“It is also encouraging that retail continues to have a substantially lower gender pay gap than other industries, however more work must be done. The pay gap in retail now sits at 9.5%, compared to the UK average of 17.3%.”

According to the ASHE data, in April 2019, retail hourly pay was £9.30 compared to £13.21 in UK overall. That translates to a 5.7% annual growth in retail vs. 4.0% in UK.