As the number of people admitting to shoplifting rises, retailers’ profit margins will be hit which could lead to further redundancies on the high street, according to recruiters.

New research published by G4S Security Services shows that 2.6m British adults aged 16-64 admit to shoplifting in the last year, up 30% on the previous 12 months.

Steve Walters, director at Blue Monday Recruitment, told Recruiter that Christmas is always a time when shoplifting levels go up. “All businesses manage their returns. Retailers cannot keep their eyes on things as they normally would. It is damaging and hits the bottom line. A bad stocktake can mean loss of profits and loss of profits potentially means redundancies because the businesses are not doing well.”

Kate McCarthy, managing director at McCarthy Recruitment, adds: “It has an impact on profitability. It does not impact on staff directly but as unemployment rates go up and the recession gets worse, shoplifting goes up. If that affects bottom line profit, that will hit recruitment and headcount.”