UK Grocers - comment

Lidl has increased it wages for its UK employees, highlighting the tightness in the labour market, despite the weak UK market. Lidl has increased its wages for its 24,500 employees by c.13% for its basic rate. Lidl employs c. 65,000 employees in the UK with about 40% employed impacted by this increase. This increase is just bringing Lidl inline with other retailers with Tesco, Waitrose, Asda and Sainsbury all paying comparable rates. The rates of £11.40 and £11.95 for outside and inside London compares to Tesco’s £11.02 and £11.95, which was awarded in February.

Although headline grabbing this is not new news. Wage inflation is real and all retailers are struggling to retain staff.