UK retail sales drop 0.6 per cent
UK retail sales fell 0.6 per cent between April and May, official figures released today show
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Thursday, 18, Jun 2009 11:04
UK retail sales fell 0.6 per cent between April and May, official figures released today show.
Sales volumes were also 1.6 per cent lower than 12 months ago, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reports.
However, sales for the three months up to May were 0.3 per cent higher than the three months previous.
Analysts claim the continuing rising unemployment levels and widespread wage freezes are starting to bite retail sales.
Yesterday it was announced 2.26 million people are now out of work and the figure is set to rise until at least the end of this year.
Clothing and footwear saw sale volumes drop 1.9 per cent of the previous month with consumers shying away from buying big-ticket items.
Commenting on the figures, Vicky Redwood, of Capital Economics, is quoted by the Press Association news agency as saying: "We wouldn't be surprised if this marked the start of a period of rather weaker sales growth than of late. The credit crunch-driven nature of the slowdown so far appears to have primarily hit spending off the high street.
"But as the deteriorating labour market and future tax rises hit household incomes more generally, we expect a prolonged period of weakness in both retail and non-retail spending."