Debenhams is planning another 2,500 job cuts as statistics show the pandemic has cost 730,000 UK jobs between March and July.
They will be across UK stores and distribution centre, but no sites will shut permanently.
READ: Debenhams to keep another three stores closed in England
The department store chain said current trading was “a long way from returning to normal”, the BBC reported, although the 124 reopened sites are trading ahead of expectations.
“Such difficult decisions are being taken by many retailers right now, and we will continue to take all necessary steps to give Debenhams every chance of a viable future… We have to ensure our store costs are aligned with realistic expectations,” the firm said.
Debenhams went into a second administrator in April after taking a hard battering from lockdown, then announced 4,000 redundancies in May.
In June it agreed with landlords to keep 120 venues open, but 17 were set to remain permanently closed.
Unemployment rise
The latest data the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show a 730,000 fall of employees on payroll in July compared to March, when the pandemic started.
It includes 81,000 fewer people in July alone, despite the government's job retention schemes.
Firstly, people are losing jobs and employment is falling. But the falls are relatively modest compared to the huge falls in GDP we are seeing (GDP fell by just under 20% in the three months to May YoY; payrolls fell just over 2% July YoY). (1/n)
— Jonathan Athow (@jathers_ONS) August 11, 2020
However, early estimates indicate that median monthly pay increased by 2.5% in July compared to last year.