ABSTRACT
The retail trade is one of the largest and most labour-intensive sectors of the economy. It employs around fourteen million people; that is, more than 9 per cent of all those in gainful employment in European Union (EU) member states (European Commission 1999:147). Understandably, such a large service industry has come to be regarded as a potential source of new jobs. Optimistic assessments of the prospects for employment in the retail trade are based on a widely held view of work in the retail trade as ‘simple’ service-sector work that offers vocationally less well-qualified women, in particular, opportunities to combine paid work with family commitments. Are such expectations realistic?
