Russian internet investor Yuri Milner had an ominous prediction for the retail industry and its many workers at a conference earlier this week in Ukraine.
He said that there will be “a pretty significant job loss in the retail sector to the tune of 40 million jobs in the next 20 years," according to Chrystia Freeland at Reuters.
What's going to cause that?
Milner estimates that right now, 6 percent of retail sales is done on the web, but that number will spike to 20 percent in the next decade. It will be 50 percent in two decades, he said.
Now, there would be one huge benefit for the global economy if the retail world keeps going online. Milner anticipates that we'd see an 8 percent increase in efficiency.
Still, 40 million jobs? It may not be as bad as it sounds.
Milner thinks that many of those disappearing low-wage retail jobs would be replaced by better-paying tech jobs.
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