The ACS’ 2020 Rural Shop Report outlines the crucial role that rural shops play in people’s daily lives as job creators, service providers and social hubs.

The report shows that the UK’s 16,986 rural shops continue to provide around 146,000 local, flexible and secure jobs. Almost a third of colleagues say they rely on the flexibility to fit their job around childcare commitments or caring for other family members, while jobs in rural shops also offer the security of the guaranteed hours and pay that does not come with gig economy jobs.

People in rural areas rated their local convenience store as their number one most essential service, the report reveals, in addition to the service that overall has the most positive impact on their local area. Rural shop customers are also more dependent on these stores because the nearest alternative is further afield than in urban areas.

ACS chief executive, James Lowman, said: “The UK’s rural shops provide a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people, not just through the provision of everyday essentials and a range of services, but also by providing secure local jobs in otherwise isolated communities. They do all of this despite facing an uphill battle to gain access to decent broadband speeds and reliable mobile connectivity, and if they have a cash machine on the premises, to keep that machine free to use for customers. If this Government is committed to levelling up the UK economy, it must include plans to level the playing field for our rural shops.”

“More than 30,000 NHS workers and 71,000 in education were among more than a quarter of a million public sector staff who lost their jobs in 2011 as the government’s austerity measures started to bite. Official figures revealed that a total of 270,000 posts were cut from the public sector payroll last year, reducing the workforce by almost 7%, to 5.94 million.”

….and we have trailed many times in Hinterland before how rural places are more dependent on the public sector for their economic underpinning. Things are not all doom and gloom however with new private sector jobs starting to show in the form of some green shoots as set out in this article in the Telegraph:

It explains: “Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that between November and January, 45,000 jobs were created in the private sector. Over the same period, 37,000 jobs were lost in the public sector.

 This is the first time since the start of 2011 that the private sector has created more jobs than the public sector has shed. Chancellor George Osborne has always maintained that any economic recovery would be led by the private sector.”