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PPI 2017 Ecommerce Job Review

• February 2, 2018
• Michael Mandel

In this note we summarize the growth in ecommerce jobs in 2017, based on the methodology described in our September 2017 report,  “How Ecommerce Creates Jobs and Reduces Income Inequality.”

1. We find that the number of ecommerce jobs rose by 133K in 2017, with half of that amount coming from the growth of ecommerce fulfillment centers in the warehousing industry.  Local delivery contributed 38K jobs, found in the ‘couriers and messenger’ industry. These numbers do not include the ecommerce deliveries done by the USPS, or any temporary workers that fulfillment centers might hire.
2. We estimate that brick-and-mortar retail jobs rose by 13K jobs in 2017.
3. Measured as FTEs (fulltime equivalent), the number of ecommerce jobs has risen by 592K since 2012.
4. Measured as FTEs, the number of brick-and-mortar retail jobs has risen by 456K since 2012 (yes, you read that right).
5. Combined, the brick-and-mortar retail and ecommerce sectors have added more than 1 million FTE jobs since 2012.