UK retailers² cut jobs over the past three months at the fastest rate since comparable records began in 2008, due to technological³ change and rising employment costs, the British Retail¹ Consortium said.

英国零售商协会于日前表示，由于技术变化和就业成本的上升，英国零售商在过去三个月以2008年以来的最快速率进行裁员。

The BRC said its members employed 3.0 per cent fewer staff in the third quarter of this year than during the same time in 2016, and total hours worked fell by 4.2 per cent year-on-year.

该协会称，今年第三季度其成员雇用员工的数量要比2016年同期减少了3%，总工作时间同比下降了4.2%。

Both were the steepest falls since the BRC started collecting records in 2008, when Britain was in the middle of its sharpest recession in decades.

这两项数据都是英国零售商协会自2008年开始收集记录以来的最大跌幅，当时英国经济正处于数十年来最严重的衰退。

This contrasts with the picture in the broader economy, where the unemployment rate is its lowest since 1975 and job creation has been strong, albeit⁴ partly at the expense of wages.

这与整体经济情况形成了鲜明对比，目前英国的失业率是1975年以来的最低水平，就业岗位一直保持强劲态势，尽管一定程度上是以牺牲工资为代价的。

Still, the BRC report chimed with a European Commission survey last month that showed British retailers' expectations for employment sank to their lowest since late 2011.

然而，英国零售商协会的报告与上月欧盟委员会的调查一致。该调查显示，英国零售商对就业的预期降至2011年末以来的最低水平。

"The pace of job reductions in the retail industry is gathering⁵ steam," BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said.

英国零售商协会首席执行官海伦·迪金森表示：“零售业的裁员步伐正在加快。”

"Behind this shrinking of the workforce⁶ is both a technological revolution in retail, which is reducing demand for labour, and government policy, which is driving up the cost of employment," she added.

她还表示：“政府的政策正在推高雇佣成本，在此次减少劳动力的背后，是零售业的技术革命，这是在减少对劳动力的需求。”