Alibaba expected to fuel nearly a third of China’s digital economy jobs

A report out by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) claims that, on its current trajectory, Alibaba could be responsible for some 112 million jobs out of an eye-watering 415 million total jobs available in China’s digital economy in 2035. “If Alibaba’s emerging businesses, such as cloud computing and digital entertainment, play a strong future role as well,” BCG alleges, “we can expect another 10 million jobs by 2035 – for a total of 122 million jobs,” or roughly 30 percent of the projected total.

A 2016 study by Renmin University found that Alibaba’s e-commerce platform has already created 31 million jobs. The vast majority of these jobs “come through the creation of new online businesses using Alibaba’s platform,” the study said, as well as through “ancillary businesses that grew up around it, such as logistics.”

China’s e-commerce marketplace has evolved to reach rural and less-affluent consumers through a series of low-cost, low-tech alternatives. More than 1,300 “Taobao villages,” or rural e-commerce outposts, have sprung up along the economic periphery.

In its “Year 2035” study, BCG estimates that China’s digital economy will comprise 48 percent of the country’s total economy in 2035, or US$16 trillion in spending. In 2015, those numbers were 13 percent and $1.4 trillion, respectively, representing just over 100 million jobs.

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