JD.com Founder Warns: "700,000 Delivery Employees Will Soon Be Replaced by Robots"
Ryu Changdong, Chairman and founder of JD.com, a leading Chinese e-commerce company, has warned that the company’s 700,000 delivery employees will soon be replaced by robots, urging action to address the looming employment crisis.
According to the Financial Times (FT) and Chinese media outlet Guancha, Chairman Ryu made these remarks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Forum held in Beijing, China on June 21. He stated, “In the future, robots will deliver parcels, and before long, there will come a day when delivery riders are no longer needed.” He added, “We do not want to see our 700,000 brothers go hungry or lose their jobs.”
Chairman Ryu did not specify when robot delivery would be widely adopted in China. According to Chinese media reports, various pilot projects are underway in Guangdong’s Shenzhen, including robots delivering food to airport gates and robots resupplying convenience stores by riding city commuter trains.
The FT explained that these developments reflect growing concerns among policymakers that the rapid introduction of robots in China threatens the jobs of the most vulnerable groups of workers. According to China’s New Employment Research Center, the number of so-called “gig workers”—including factory workers, ride-hailing drivers, and delivery riders—is expected to rise from 200 million five years ago to 320 million this year. These gig workers account for about 40% of total urban employment in China. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the national urban unemployment rate last month was 5.1%, while the youth unemployment rate reached 15.6%.
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Chairman Ryu commented, “Robots are machines, so breakdowns are inevitable, and people will need to repair them,” suggesting that robot repair jobs will become commonplace. He revealed that JD.com has signed contracts with about 120 schools to retrain delivery workers for new roles such as robot repair and maintenance. He further emphasized regarding technology that “it should improve human lives and make work more interesting, not deprive humans of their right to work.”
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