Jobs and AI

Retail and cashiers

Cashier roles are expected to shrink, while sales roles overall are expected to grow.

How to read this page. No source gives a reliable "risk score" for individual UK jobs, so we don't invent one. We summarise what named studies say. The Department for Education's report measures exposure to AI (how far AI could touch the abilities a job uses), not whether jobs will be lost or helped, and it says its results "should be interpreted with caution". Read the sources and make up your own mind.

What the evidence says

WEF Future of Jobs 2025 names cashiers and ticket clerks among the roles expected to see the largest decline in absolute numbers. It also lists salespersons among the frontline roles with the largest expected growth.
DfE (2023) ranks market and street traders and assistants 5th for exposure to large language models.

What it means in practice

Our summary, based on the sources above. It's general guidance, not a prediction.

  • Self-checkout and automation reduce till work. Customer advice, visual merchandising and stock management remain.
  • Moves to consider: supervisor, e-commerce, customer service or logistics roles.
  • Useful skills: product knowledge, digital tills and stock systems, online selling basics.

Next steps

Use the career-switch planner, check free and funded training, or browse new and emerging roles.

Change log

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