Signal Online shift costs Korean retail 377,000 jobs to 2033 while transport and storage grow

Summary

The report links a third group of industry outlooks to the move of commerce online and onto platforms. Wholesale and retail trade, the largest service employer, is projected to fall from 3.275 million workers in 2023 to 2.898 million in 2033, a loss of about 377,000 or 1.2 percent a year. Accommodation and food services is expected to lose about 116,000 jobs over the same period, ending at 2.181 million. Transport and storage moves in the opposite direction, gaining about 38,000 workers to 1.683 million as online and platform-based activity grows. Together these figures show that digital commerce is expected to shift jobs from shop floors and restaurants toward logistics rather than simply remove them.