Retail Trade: Employment

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy written question – answered at on 26 July 2018.

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Photo of Mark Hendrick Mark Hendrick Labour/Co-operative, Preston

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the of the effect the implementation of self-service checkouts by retailers on levels of employment.

Photo of Kelly Tolhurst Kelly Tolhurst Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)

Government monitors employment in the retail sector through statistics provided annually by the Office for National Statistics, which show that over the last 10 years retail employment has remained broadly consistent at between 3.2 and 3.3 million.

We are working to make skills training available for those whose jobs may be affected by new technologies. Both our Industrial Strategy and the AI Sector Deal set out how we are helping people develop the skills needed for the jobs of the future, including retraining and researching the impact of automation across sectors.

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