Chinese multinational conglomerate Alibaba started its local services company in 2018 after merging food delivery platform Ele.me and lifestyle services firm Koubei. In 2020, as Alibaba’s local services arm Ele.me and Koubei, plans to improvize its new services and drive more digitization, it will add 15 percent more frontline employees to its existing workforce. 

The focus of the company would be on strengthening product technology, merchant services and business operations. 

Wang Lei, President of Alibaba's local services company, shared that the new services, which centered on digitalization, are creating more and more jobs and boosting the upgrading of the traditional service industry.

Ele.me and Koubei already claims to have created a batch of new jobs, like deliverymen, food delivery planner, craftsman host and operation analyst. Infact, for 56 percent of the deliverymen, this acts as a second occupation.

As per World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2019, at the global level, services accounted for just under half of total employment in 2018; this share is expected to continue to rise. On-demand food delivery and services platforms have indeed proven to play a vital role in solving the employment issue amid slowing economic growth across the globe. 

These new business models have been able to create new opportunities for the talent pool in the job market. Besides digital roles, these online local services companies have created interesting roles like food delivery planner and craftsman host. However, it has not completely taken away the unemployment challenge with the presence of skill gap and the lack of availability of right talent. 

Local delivery firms have, however, challenged the situation and have even worked on nurturing skills and creating the right talent for them. To help drive growth for the entire sector and improve employability in the sector, companies, governments and educational institutions have to work together and create relevant interventions.