Occupational hazards

26 February 2019 By Robyn Mak Follow @mak_robyn

Reports of job cuts in the once-booming sector are on the rise. Officials touted jobs at startups as substitutes for slack hiring at state giants and traditional industries. But if 8 mln college students graduate into an innovation economy that isn’t hiring, unrest could result.

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China's Alibaba Group on Feb. 22 said in a post on its microblog that it will continue to hire and invest in more talent in 2019, according to an English translation provided by the company.

Chief Executive Daniel Zhang also said at a meeting with management that the company "should continue to utilise the resources on our platforms to boost domestic consumption, bringing in more manufacturing and services orders". He added: "The biggest value of having a platform-based economy like Alibaba is to create more job opportunities, especially when the economy is challenging".

Separately, rival e-commerce group JD.com will lay off 10 percent of its senior staff this year, local Chinese media outlet Sina Tech reported on Feb. 19, citing unnamed sources.

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