More than 420,000 retail jobs have been lost since 2010, reigniting calls for more to be done to save the high street.
New GMB Union data shows that the number of roles have fallen 28.4% to 420,242 since the Conservatives took power.
It comes as Wilko stores closed their doors for the final time over the weekend following its collapse in August, resulting more than 12,000 redundancies.
The GMB is urging the Labour Party to propose economic reforms to prevent more retail jobs from being lost.
It is calling for the UK’s ‘archaic’ system of business rates to be replaced and for tougher sentences when retail workers are victim to violence and other abuse.
The union is also requesting better protections for retail workers which have been made redundant.
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It is estimated that the taxpayer will pick up the more than £25m tab of making Wilko workers redundant.
GMB National Secretary Andy Prendergast said the high street was at risk of “terminal decline”.
“High street retail is at the heart of our communities, but customers and workers are denied a fair deal.
“These shocking figures are a wakeup call that Wilko was not the first, and it will not be the last.
“Better support for communities and workers who face redundancy is urgently needed.
“That’s why GMB is calling on the Labour Party to enact its pledge to replace the business rates system, strengthen redundancy rights, and establish minimum ownership requirements for critical national retailers.”
Data from the Centre of Retail Research show that retailers cut nearly 15,000 retail jobs in the first two months of this year due to administrations and large scale restructuring programmes.
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