For decades, the Saturday job behind a till or stacking shelves was a rite of passage for British teenagers. It taught punctuality, customer service and the grim reality of early starts. That era is ending. The boss of Next, Lord Wolfson, has issued a stark warning: entry level jobs in retail are plummeting as automation and online shopping reshape the high street. His comments come as new figures show youth unemployment creeping up, with 16 to 24 year olds bearing the brunt of a structural shift that shows no signs of reversing.
Wolfson told the BBC that Next now requires 30% fewer pickers and packers in its warehouses than five years ago, thanks to robots. On the shop floor, self service checkouts and inventory scanning apps have replaced hundreds of thousands of starter roles. 'We used to take on 50 school leavers a year for a single distribution centre. Now we take five,' he said. 'That social mobility ladder is being pulled up.'
The impact is felt most acutely in towns that relied on retail as a first job. In Burnley, where Next has a major warehouse, the youth unemployment rate has hit 14%, nearly double the national average. 'I've applied to every shop in town,' says 18 year old Liam, who left school last summer. 'They all say they want experience or a degree. But how do I get experience if nobody hires me?'
The shift is not just about jobs lost. It is about a cultural change in how young people enter the workforce. The Saturday job was a social leveller, a place where teens from all backgrounds learned the value of work. Without it, the gap between those with parents who can offer internships or introductions and those without widens. 'We risk creating a lost generation who never learn basic employability,' warns Sarah Hughes, a careers advisor in Leeds. 'They have qualifications, but no resilience, no idea how to talk to a customer.'
Retailers argue that they are not cutting jobs but changing their nature. New roles in data analytics, supply chain management and digital marketing require higher skills. But these jobs are often concentrated in London and the South East, leaving northern towns behind. For every 100 retail jobs lost in the North, only 20 new tech roles emerge, according to a recent report by the Centre for Cities.
The government has promised a 'lifetime skills guarantee' and more apprenticeship funding, but critics say the pace is too slow. 'This is a crisis of opportunity,' says Lord Wolfson. 'We need a national conversation about how we prepare young people for a world where the shop floor is a digital interface.'
For now, the young are voting with their feet. A survey by YouthSight found that 62% of 16 to 19 year olds believe their job prospects are worse than their parents' generation. On the street, you hear a quiet resentment. 'They tell us to get a job, but there aren't any,' says a 19 year old in Liverpool, who has been job hunting for eight months. 'I feel like I'm being left behind before I even start.'
The retail sector has long been a bellwether for the wider economy. Its disappearance as a first job portends a deeper fragmentation of British society. Without those early stepping stones, the distance between those who have and those who have not grows ever wider. And as the robots take the tills, the human cost is measured not in profit margins but in young lives put on hold.
