Trend Online and platform commerce displacing offline sales jobs in Korea

Summary

KEIS identifies the spread of e-commerce, driven by the move online and onto platforms, as a structural force in Korea's labour demand. It expects this shift to reduce employment in finance and insurance, wholesale and retail trade, and real estate. The contraction falls hardest on offline sales jobs such as sales representatives and shop sales and rental workers. At the same time, employment in online and mail-order sales occupations is expected to grow. The trend thus reallocates rather than simply removes sales work, while pushing much of the adjustment onto service sectors with many self-employed people.