Recent retail job creations are the result of consumers trading downwards, according to retail recruiters.

As clothing retailer H&M and food chain Subway create 14,000 jobs in total, Peter Burgess, director at Retail HR, told Recruiter that the recession did not mean that consumers would desert the high-street.

“Retail sales did not drop in December as everyone expected. They went up. You have to bear in mind that Woolworths is no longer in the market. The £2.5bn that would be spent with them will be spent somewhere else.

“The overall retail sales are remaining flat. For every retailer that is losing sales, there will be retailers that will be winning them and those that are winning them will be creating jobs.”

Louise Wright, director at Oyster Retail Recruitment, adds: “When you are looking at companies like H&M, they are not going to be at the same level as Harvey Nichols and Selfridges. People are watching their pennies. When confidence builds at the lower end, confidence will build in the next sector up.

“I am fed up of the doom and gloom. There will be more jobs and the industry will get back to where it should be. The economy will get better but everybody has got to have that confidence.”