Emerging indications of employment in a circular economy: A synthesis of European case studies

The potential for job creation is widely assumed to follow from the greening of the economy by means such as a circular economy (CE). There have been efforts to quantify the number of jobs potentially arising from a CE, but the nature, distribution and specific skills required for these jobs remains underexplored; how organisations are approaching issues relating to CE employment in practice is also a largely unexplored area. This chapter therefore asks: how CE-ready are European organisations and what type of changes to employment are underway and/or expected? It draws on case studies relating to product design in Germany and Austria, European-wide company reporting, plus company perspectives from the Netherlands and Italy; a regional-scale initiative in the United Kingdom; public sector implementation of the CE in Portugal and public opinion and self-employed CE workers in Hull, UK. Methods used included semi-structured interviews of representatives of small and large companies and public sector bodies; an online survey with follow-up interviews was undertaken of companies and a document analysis of international sustainability and CE reporting. Findings suggest that the sense that a CE is associated with employment opportunities is shared by organisations, while noting financial constraints on staffing. There are critical skills shortages e.g. designers needing additional training. Higher level management skills, e.g. for co-ordination across departments, are also needed. There is an interdependent situation of job roles, responsibilities and qualifications needing to change in order to bring about a more significant transition towards the implementation of a CE.