The retail sector has recorded the “best result” in terms of job creation since 2009, indicating that consumer recovery is gathering pace, according to the latest BRC-Bond Dickinson Retail Employment Monitor (REM). Article by Christina Tolvas-Vincent is an employment partner at law firm Bond Dickinson LLP.

Retailers certainly seem to be on the road to recovery with growth dominating the figures this quarter. The increase in full time jobs is particularly heartening, demonstrating a longer term confidence and mirroring improvements in the UK labour market overall. After a disappointing end to 2013 in terms of jobs growth it appears that the first quarter of this year has been greeted with renewed optimism over the strength and longevity of the recovery. Over the last six months the rate of full-time job creation has outpaced part-time positions, and there appear to be some interesting trends emerging between food and non-food retailers.

Our recent findings underline the recent improvements in the overall UK labour market. The growth was particularly impressive given the late timing of Easter this year. The improvement was in part driven by a 1.3% increase in the number of stores in the period, driven entirely by food retailers. Comparatively, non-food retailers contributed disproportionately to the number of full-time jobs created from January to the end of March.  According to the research, retail employment rose by 1.0% in the third quarter of 2013 compared with a year earlier, and the number of full-time contracts grew at the fastest rate for over three years. In the third quarter of 2013, the number of outlets rose by 1.6%, driven entirely by food retailers.

Interestingly, the research showed that food retailers in particular continue to outpace non-food retailers in terms of hours worked and store numbers; the success of the food sector is a crucial driver in the overall growth of the retail sector and this shows no sign of abating. Not surprisingly, seasonal hiring is on most retailers' agendas, with around three quarters planning to increase staffing levels in the next three months and with redundancy levels significantly lower than they were earlier in the year, this sector will be providing sought after opportunities for those looking for work.

While food retailers continued to open new stores and invest in more property – driven by the expansion of the convenience market – the total number of hours worked has fallen. Since the inception of the Retail Employment Monitor in October 2008, there have only been five occasions when the total number of hours have fallen. Hours worked in part-time are holding up marginally better than full-time, but both have fallen this quarter. The average number of full time employees per store has also fallen at the fastest rate for over three years – indicative of the drive towards smaller store formats but also highlighting the rapid structural changes occurring within the grocery sector.

The importance of the retail sector for UK employment is underpinned by the strongest growth in full time contracts for more than three years. With the growing debate about employment contracts, it is interesting that retailers are creating more full-time jobs, as well as the more flexible part-time or seasonal jobs, which are traditionally associated with the retail industry. The overall trend remains that the number of jobs in retail is growing. In fact, there has been a positive trend seen in the number of jobs offered by the retail sector every quarter for the last two years and the positive findings demonstrate the continuing importance of the industry in employing more people than any other private sector area.

The outlook for future employment looks positive with the vast majority of retailers intending to either keep staffing levels the same or increase them, again reflecting a theme of expectation of better times to come. The proportion of those planning to decrease jobs has more than halved and redundancy levels are way down. In a departure from recent years where food retailers have underpinned any growth in retail employment, non-food retailers have actually driven the increase in full time jobs. It looks like the recovery has finally started to be felt outside of the supermarkets, too.