The Excel Recruitment Retail Management Survey was conducted during late December 2009 and January 2010, asking a sample of 250 store managers a range of questions regarding employment conditions and rates of pay. Some 80% of respondents were from the supermarket and convenience sectors, with the remainder representing the fashion and non-food retail sectors.
Of those surveyed, 90% said that they had implemented wage cuts over the last year; 88% of managers also said that salaries needed to be reduced in line with the reductions in the cost of living to make Ireland competitive again, with the majority (92%) agreeing that wage cuts had to be made sooner rather than later. A recent Small Firms Association survey found that 13% of respondents cited labour costs as their single biggest threat and 87% as a major business problem. more >