In the past three months 25% more retail staff have called The Retail Trusts helpline about stress, depression and financial crises.

The findings come as a study by talent development company Durler Consulting reports that typical retail CEOs earn £1 for every £305 in profit compared with £1 for every £858 in profit across industry in the UK. This is a rise of 38% over the past five years.

Retail staff account for 2.9 million or 10% of the UK's working population and The Retail Trust has reported that, between July and September 2008, 23% of the total calls to its helpline were about stress, 27% requested information about redundancy, 20% were about debt management and 14% required legal advice.

The Retail Trust's CEO, Nigel Rothband, said: "The impact the credit crunch is having on retail staff makes poignant reading." But he added: "Retailers are proactively implementing strategies to ensure staff know where they can go for support both internally and externally."