Almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs during another challenging year for the UK high street, data suggests.

The collapse of big chains such as Homebase and The Body Shop put thousands of jobs at risk and contributed to 169,395 retail jobs disappearing during 2024 – a 42% rise on 2023 levels.

End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research registered the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.

The centre said 38 big retailers went into administration in 2024, with further household names including Lloyds Pharmacy, Carpetright and Ted Baker.

Administration accounted for about a third of all 2024 retail job losses – 55,914 in total – with the remainder axed through cost-cutting programmes by large retailers or small independent stores shuttering unprofitable stores.

Retailing jobs form a sizeable portion of the country’s overall job market, with 2.87m roles representing about 8.5% of all UK jobs, according to the most recent figures from the British Retail Consortium.

The trade body calculates that retail vacancies are about 30% lower than they were in the period immediately preceding the pandemic. Overall employment appears to have remained relatively steady, with a historical UK average of 2.77m retail jobs between 1978 and 2023, although the population has risen by 13m since the 1970s.

Prof Joshua Bamfield, director of the Centre for Retail Research, said: “The comparatively low [job loss] figures for 2023 now look like an anomaly, a pause for breath by many retailers after lockdowns if you like.

“The problems of changed customer shopping habits, inflation, rising energy costs, rents and business rates have continued and forced many retailers to cut back even more strongly in 2024.”

Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of tax rises announced in this autumn’s budget as well as wage changes. Companies will see an increase in national insurance contributions as well as a reduction in discounts for business rates next year.

The British Retail Consortium has also predicted that an increase in employer national insurance contributions and a reduction in the threshold at which companies start paying will create a £2.3bn bill for the sector.

Bamfield warned of another bleak year in 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost.

“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”