How the E-commerce Boom Could Benefit Workers of Color

How the E-commerce Boom Could Benefit Workers of Color

On May 8, a roundtable was led by Representative Bobby Scott of Virginia, and moderated by Spencer Overton of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, on the impact of retail automation on workers of color. PPI participated in the congressional roundtable and presented latest research on impact of the e-commerce Boom on black and Hispanic workers. According to BLS findings roughly 24% of ecommerce workers identify as black or African-American, while 20% of workers in brick-and-mortar retail.

We also found that online business enterprises are enlisting workers of color at a fast rate. From 2007 to 2017, the quantity of dark/African-American specialists in web based business increased by 51%, contrasted with a 15% gain for all employments. The quantity of Hispanic/Latino workers in internet business ascended by 73%, contrasted with 27% for all employments. When we consider these results they suggest that the ecommerce boom could benefit workers of color. We need to train workers for the new employments in ecommerce. Taken together, these results suggest that the ecommerce boom could benefit workers of color, assuming we have the right policies to allow access to the new jobs.  We need to train workers for the new jobs in ecommerce. These jobs will require a combination of technical, design, and people skills.
Furthermore, to enable a diverse population and to take advantage of new chances we need to provide finance as well. States must set different programs which allow potential people who are involved in business to experiment with the latest 3D printing and robotics technologies.