Retail job losses before pandemic

Edinburgh and the Lothians lost 165 retail jobs from physical rather than online shops between 2015 and 2019, with a major drop in the number of people working in department stores.

The city of Edinburgh lost 125 retail jobs in the period to end with a workforce of 26,575, while East and West Lothian and Midlothian saw drops of 20, ten and also ten respectively, according to newly published figures.

Edinburgh lost a third of department store workers alone, and Midlothian shed all such staff. The period covered included the closure of Frasers in the West End, with the site now being turned into a Johnnie Walker visitor attraction. Jenners has also been earmarked for closure.

In the North-east of Scotland, the local authority areas of Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Angus respectively lost 1,965, 1,220 and 985 jobs over the period –amounting to 4,170.

Fife lost 1,135 jobs in the period from a 14,000-strong workforce, Dumfries and Galloway also lost more than 1,000, while Orkney was the least-affected area in Scotland, with a net gain of ten jobs.

Analysis by the JPIMEDIA Data Unit, harnessing data from the Office for National Statistics, shows the problem of job losses pre-dates the coronavirus pandemic, with industry bodies warning thousands more could vanish next year if action is not taken now.

The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) said it “cannot overstate” the scale of the crisis.