The development of non-food e-commerce is responsible for the destruction of 85,000 jobs in ten years, accuse Les Amis de la Terre in a report deemed “biased” by the French online commerce federation (AFP/Archives/ALAIN JOCARD)
The development of non-food e-commerce is responsible for the “largest social plan in progress in France”, with 85,000 jobs destroyed in ten years, accuse Les Amis de la Terre on Wednesday in a report deemed “biased” by the French trade federation. online (Fevad).
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 the report. Friends of the Earth.
“It is the largest social plan currently in progress in France”, denounces in a press release the NGO which took over the methodology of the cabinet Kavala Capital to update the previous study relating to the period 2009-2018.
According to Friends of the Earth, 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 each job created in an online sales company with 50 or more employees, nearly two were destroyed in the smallest companies in 2019”, deplores the NGO.
“Until then, the +digitalization+ of the major bricks-and-mortar retailers generated job creation, because the new online activity was added to the existing in-store activity. Now that their online activity is developed, these retailers close their stores and lay off their employees to face competition from the big players in online sales”, analyzes Etienne Coubard, spokesperson for Friends of the Earth.
The authors of the study are also worried on the one hand about a strong Covid-19 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”, still judges Mr. Coubard.
“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 who also accuse e-commerce of being responsible “for a VAT fraud of 5 billion euros per year”.
The NGO criticizes in passing the proliferation of logistics sites: “e-commerce will continue to concrete fields to build warehouses larger than the largest shopping centers in France”.
The Fevad reacted on Wednesday by considering that it was a “biased” report produced by “an NGO opposed to e-commerce”. The federation pleads in particular that “a direct job in e-commerce requires 1.2 additional indirect jobs for the management of logistics and deliveries”, while the equivalent in physical commerce “is accompanied by 0.2 indirect employment in logistics”.
“E-commerce is a fundamental movement that affects consumption in all countries,” argues Fevad again. “It is in this sector that the jobs of tomorrow will be created”.
© 2022 AFP
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