The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Région Bruxelles-Capitale / Brussels Hoofdstedelijke Gewest;
Location of affected unit(s)
Brussels
Sector
Retail Retail Trade, Except Of Motor Vehicles And Motorcycles Retail Sale Via Stalls And Markets Or Other 47.91 - Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet
100 jobs Number of planned job creations
Announcement Date
20 February 2016
Employment effect (start)
2 May 2016
Foreseen end date
Description
Jack Ma, the head of Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba, has said that he is planning to hire 100 new employees in Belgium. They will be sent to China for a one-year training programme focusing on the preferences of Chinese consumers. In May 2016, the company will open an outlet in Brussels. It will also develop its Alipay mobile-payment system targeting Chinese tourists in Belgium and Europe. Jack Ma wants to create a new online platform for luxury goods originating from all European countries. It will target the Chinese middle class, currently estimated at more than 200m people.
Sources
20 February 2016: De Tijd
20 February 2016: De Standaard
Citation
Eurofound (2016), Alibaba, Business expansion in Belgium, factsheet number 86619, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/86619.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
