Jobs in B2C repair sector

Monitoring jobs in repair sectors is a way to monitor the volume of products being repaired. Repair enables products to be used longer and thus extends their lifespan. This can ‘slow down’ the resource loops, leading to reduced resource use and a more circular economy (Bocken et al., 2016). Repair can support extended product lifespans which in turn should lead to an overall decrease in the use of primary resources and associated greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and waste production (European Commission, 2016) and is therefore relevant for CE monitoring. Several studies have found that products with long lives performed better environmentally than short-life variants (Duhoux et al., 2022; McKinsey & Company, 2022; Prakash et al., 2016). Increased repair activity can also bring other benefits, such as local job creation (Lechner et al., 2021) because 87% of the repair activities for computers and personal and household goods in the European Union were performed by small and medium-sized enterprises (Eurostat, 2019).

Repair can be conducted in three settings: (i) by commercial repairers, (ii) on a voluntary basis, e.g., in repair cafés and at events, and (iii) DIY repairs by consumers. The metric reflects (partly) the repairs done by commercial repairers.

An important note is that the data is based on sectors, and companies can choose themselves which sector they belong to according to their primary activity. This implies that only the activities voluntarily chosen by the companies are represented in the data.

The repair of computers and communication equipment sector includes companies that repair and carry out maintenance of computers, computer equipment, communication devices communications equipment. The number of employees and the number of persons employed have decreased since 2017 with on average 6% respectively 4% yearly.

Repair of personal and household goods sector encompasses the repair of consumer electrics, household appliances and garden equipment, footwear and leather goods, furniture and home furnishings and other personal items, including the restoration of bikes, clothing, watches,… . This activity is typically offered by smaller companies. The number of employees and persons employed is kept more or less stable since 2017. It is noteworthy that the subsector relies more strongly on voluntary/unpaid labour (such as working proprietors, partners working regularly in the unit and unpaid family workers).

For this analysis, the business-to-consumer repair sector is classified as NACE 95 covering “Repair of computers and personal and household goods”. The two main sub-groups under this category are:

· “95.1 - Repair of computers and communication equipment” which include equipment such as desktops, laptops, computer terminals, storage devices or printers and devices such as cordless telephones, cellular phones, fax machines, two-way radios, commercial TV and video cameras.

· “95.2 – Repair of personal and household goods” includes repair of consumer electronics (such as televisions, radio receivers, video cassette recorders, CD players or household-type video cameras), household appliances, home and garden equipment, footwear, leather goods, furniture, home furnishings, watches, clocks, jewellery and other goods such as bicycles, clothing, sporting goods, camping equipment, musical instruments etc.

The parameters dealt with (source: metadata sheet, Eurostat):

·     The number of employees is defined as those persons who work for an employer and who have a contract of employment and receive compensation in the form of wages, salaries, fees, gratuities, piecework pay or remuneration in kind. A worker from an employment agency is considered to be an employee of that temporary employment agency and not of the unit (customer) in which they work.

·     Number of persons employed is defined as the total number of persons who work in the observation unit (inclusive of working proprietors, partners working regularly in the unit and unpaid family workers), as well as persons who work outside the unit who belong to it and are paid by it (e.g. sales representatives, delivery personnel, repair and maintenance teams). It excludes manpower supplied to the unit by other enterprises, persons carrying out repair and maintenance work in the enquiry unit on behalf of other enterprises, as well as those on compulsory military service.