Over 60% of employees in retail are women.  Over 40% of all employees in the sector are women who work part-time.  This means the sector is largely characterised by part-time female employees, with this pattern forecast to continue.

Women working in retail full-time still earn on average 25% less per hour than men.  Women who work part-time in the sector earn 46% less per hour than men who work full-time in retail. 

Only 12% of women in the sector work at managerial levels, compared with 28% of men, even though women account for over 60% of the workforce.

Source: Usdaw 2003 and Harris and Church 2002

Source: Working Futures 2004, figure 6.14.2. Based on CE/IER estimates.

The retail sector has typically relied on young people to meet employment demands.  However, demographic change i.e. the ageing of the UK population, together with the growth in numbers entering higher education means this pool is shrinking.  Research has also found that young people have negative perceptions of the industry.

As a consequence, some employers in the sector have actively started to recruit mature workers.  B&Q has been a pioneer in this area, and ASDA has introduced policies such as ‘grandparent leave’ for its employees.

Source: Harris and Church 2002 and Retail e-commerce task force 2001

7% of employees in retail are from minority ethnic groups, but there appears to be an absence of further relevant data.

Source: Harris and Church 2002

12% of people in the combined retail and distributive industries have a disability.  This means there are 130,000 people with disabilities working in retail but there is an apparent lack of further data regarding disabled people working in the sector.

Source: Harris and Church 2002