“It is the biggest social plan currently underway in France”, denounces the NGO behind the study. The development of non-food online commerce is responsible for the destruction of 85,000 jobs in ten years, and threatens nature with its “warehouses bigger than big malls”accuse Wednesday, March 23 Friends of the Earth.
The net balance of jobs destroyed in France between 2009 and 2019 due to the impact of non-food e-commerce stands at 85,000 jobs lost, including 3,800 in 2019, the last year for which data is available.
According to Les Amis de la Terre, which took over the methodology of the firm Kavala Capital to update the previous study covering the period 2009-2018 (PDF document), 122,400 jobs have been directly destroyed in ten years in the retail trade due to the development of online sales. The wholesale trade has limited the breakage.
Very small retail businesses (7,600 jobs lost) and the clothing sector (4,800) are paying a heavy price for the affirmation of distance selling.
“For every job created in an online sales company with 50 or more employees, almost two were destroyed in the smallest companies in 2019.”
The authors of the study are also worried on the one hand about a strong Covid effect when the data for the years 2020 and 2021 will be available, and on the other hand about a spread of social damage to the food trade, with the rise of “dark stores” and other online grocery stores.
“Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term has resulted in incomprehensible choices. Tax gifts, administrative and political support have enabled massive and rapid implementation. However, e-commerce is destroying jobs at high speed”deplores a spokesperson for the NGO. “The Government favors uberisation, short contracts and temporary work. In the midst of a purchasing power crisis, in addition to destroying jobs, online sales create precarious jobs below the poverty line”conclude Friends of the Earth.