Career opportunities returning in resilient retail sector

Retail , Ireland's biggest private sector employer, employs almost 300,000 people, with three in every four based outside of Dublin

Shoppers visiting stores in St Patrick's Street, Cork. Retail life is rebounding in the city centre and in the suburban shopping centres, aided by  Covid control measures as well as 'click and collect' and other consumer-friendly services. Picture: Larry Cummins

A job in retail won't make you rich but it's a sector that needs to recruit new staff. The Central Statistics Office's most recent figures for job vacancies in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles is 3,300.

Arnold Dillon, director of Retail Ireland, says: "There are significant challenges across the retail sector in terms of trying to recruit staff. Some of it is related to the extended lockdown and the fact that a lot of people made life changes during that period. They moved location or tried to change career."